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NOTES, 


CRITICAL  AND  EXPLANATORY, 


ON  THE  BOOK   OF 


GENESIS. 


FROM  THE  CREATION"  TO  THE  COVENANT. 


BY 

MEIANCTHON  W.   JACOBUS, 

PBOFE88T  E  OF  BIBLICAL  LITERATURE  AND   EXEGESIS  IN   THE  THEOLOGICAL  BEMINABT   AT 
ALLEGHENY,   PA. 


NEW    YOKK: 
ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS, 

530     BROADW  AY. 
18  6  7. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1804,  by 

MELANCTHON   "W.   JACOBUS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 

"Western  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


gtoreotyped  by  Smith  &  McDougal,  82  &  84  Beekman  Street  N<»* 
Printed  by  E.  O.  Jbnkiks,  23  Nortb  William  Street 


PREFACE 


It  is  now  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  since  any  pop- 
ular Annotations  on  the  Pentateuch  have  been  given  to  the 
American  public,  if  we  except  only  Jamiesorts  very  brief 
notes  reprinted  in  this  country. 

During  all  this  period  Bush  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 
only  commentator  on  this  portion  of  the  Scriptures  accessible 
to  the  mass  of  readers.  And  yet,  this  is  the  period  in  which 
the  literature  of  the  Pentateuch  has  most  immensely  in- 
creased. The  questions  lying  at  this  threshold  of  revelation 
have  become  the  leading  questions  of  religious  inquiry :  and 
skepticism,  seeking  the  darkest  and  most  remote  places  for  its 
operations,  has  labored  around  the  origin  of  things,  to  throw 
obscurity  upon  God's  revealed  word  hereabouts,  to  question 
the  historical  verity  of  these  pages,  and  to  bring  to  bear, 
with  an  inspiration  of  the  Evil  One,  "the  oppositions  of 
science,  falsely  so-called" 

God's  word  suffers  nothing  from  such  captious  queryings 
and  cavillings  as  deface  the  pages  of  the  modern  destructive 
school.  The  Pseudo-bishop's  criticism  bewrayeth  itself.  The 
animus  of  this  Pilate-judgment,  that  pronounces  Christ  fault- 
less, but  gives  Him  over  to  His  cruci tiers,  is  too  manifest  to 
mislead  sober  inquirers,  even  though  the  official  robes  of  the 


iv  PREFACE. 

Colensos,  like  those  of  Pilate  himself,  might  seem  to  carry 
some  authority.  The  great  vital  question,  urged,  whether  in 
pretence  or  otherwise,  by  so  many,  at  this  moment,  is,  "  Wliat 
is  truth  f  "  And  Jesus  answers,  that "  to  this  end  was  He  born, 
and  to  this  end  He  came  into  the  world,  that  He  should  bear 
witness  unto  the  truth,"  and  true  enough  is  it,  and  must  ever 
be,  that  "  every  one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  His  voice." 

The  author  has  had  constantly  in  eye  the  recent  efforts  of 
a  specious  infidelity,  burrowing  at  the  gateway  of  revela- 
tion, and  assaulting  the  historical  accuracy  of  these  original 
records,  to  undermine,  if  possible,  the  foundations  of  scrip- 
tural truth.  The  various  questions  broached  hereabouts, 
have  been  carefully  treated,  in  this  volume,  without  parading 
the  names  of  the  cavillers  or  their  works,  but  by  a  simple 
exhibition  of  the  subjects,  such  as  may  serve  to  answer  the 
inquiries  of  multitudes,  and  to  place  in  their  hands  the  ma- 
terials for  "  putting  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men." 
It  may  here  be  observed  that  the  apostate  bishop  already  re- 
ferred to,  fills  his  pages  mainly  with  the  weaknesses  of  certain 
commentators,  and  with  the  flaws  which  he  picks  in  their 
defences  of  the  truth,  and  then  sets  all  this  to  the  account  of 
the  Scripture  itself,  as  though  the  word  of  God  could  be  held 
responsible  for  the  follies  and  imbecilities  of  those  who,  in 
different  ages  and  on  different  principles,  have  professed  to 
elucidate  this  revelation. 

The  aid  of  science  is  invoked  by  skeptics,  to  overthrow  God's 
written  word,  and  scientific  men  claim  to  interpret  the  docu- 
ments in  nature's  volume  without  reference  to  these  inspired 
oracles.  It  is  judged  unscientific  to  refer  to  these  pages  in  evi- 
dence ;  and  the  specious  dictum  has  gone  forth,  from  such 
schools,  that  the  Scripture  does  not  profess  to  teach  science. 


PREFACE.  v 

But  surely  it  has  utterances  in  the  department  of  natural 
science  which  belong  to  the  very  foundations,  and  which 
science  cannot  ignore,  because  this  is  the  highest  testimony  in 
the  case, — testimony  to  facts  that  are  beyond  the  reach  of  mere 
naturalistic  inquiry.  And  it  must  always  be  a  "  science  false- 
ly so  called  "  which  ignores  these  divine  records,  as  though 
they  were  not  the  very  cream  of  well- attested  truth.  Here  are 
real  histories,  the  only  written  histories  of  the  events.  They 
are  amply  authenticated.  They  are  histories  with  which  all 
true  theories  must  harmonize.  "We  point  to  the  fact  that  ad- 
vancing discoveries  in  natural  science,  while  they  have  over- 
thrown proud  theories  of  scientific  men,  have  sustained  the 
Biblical  statements.  We  point  also  to  the  fact  that  this  nat- 
uralism, which  would  explain  away  the  first  principles  of  re- 
vealed truth,  aims  also  to  explain  away  God  Himself  from  the 
universe ;  and  thus,  while  it  would  deny  future  retribution  and 
even  Divine  Providence,  would  tear  away  from  men  all  their 
precious  hopes  for  another  world. 

In  treating  the  vexed  question  of  "  the  creative  days,"  the 
author  has  confined  the  discussion  to  the  Introduction,  with- 
out disturbing  the  comments.  He  has  adopted  the  view 
which  is  now  most  commonly  accepted  among  orthodox 
writers, — the  view  of  Chalmers  and  Wardlaw,  and  more 
lately  of  Dr.  Murphy  of  Belfast, — which  adheres  strictly  to 
the  plain  sense  of  the  scriptural  passage.  For,  as  Keil  in  his 
late  work,  well  remarks,  "Exegesis  must  insist  upon  this,  and 
not  allow  itself  to  alter  the  plain  sense  of  the  words  of  the 
Bible  from  irrelevant  and  untimely  regard  to  the  so-called 
certain  inductions  of  natural  science.  Irrelevant  we  call 
such  considerations  as  make  interpretation  dependent  upon 
natural  science,  because  the  creation  lies  outside  -the  limits 


vi  PREFACE. 

of  empirical  and  speculative  research,  and,  as  an  act  of  the 
Omnipotent  God,  belongs  rather  to  the  sphere  of  miracles 
and  mysteries,  which  can  only  be  received  by  faith,  (Heb.  xi. 
3.)  And  untimely r,  because  natural  science  has  supplied  no 
certain  conclusions  as  to  the  origin  of  the  earth,  and  geology 
especially,  even  at  the  present  time,  is  in  a  chaotic  state  of  fer- 
mentation, the  issue  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  foresee." — ■ 
pp.  xlviii-ix.  It  is  enough  for  all  lovers  of  the  Scriptures  that 
what  is  fixed  in  science — science  truly  so- called — agrees  with 
what  is  found  in  this  written  revelation. 

This  volume  is  given  to  the  public  as  containing  the  chap- 
ters upon  which  sceptical  interpretation  has  most  largely  and 
perversely  written.  Another  volume  will  cover  the  remaining 
chapters,  and  will  be  issued  soon,  if  God  will.  And,  should 
they  receive  the  same  public  approval  as  the  author's  volumes 
on  the  Historical  Books  of  the  ~New  Testament,  these  will  be 
followed  by  a  further  series  on  the  Old  or  on  the  JSTew,  as 
God  shall  give  opportunity. 


INTRODUCTION 


GENESIS. 


This  opening  Book  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  is  called  Genesis,  which  is 
the  title  given  to  it  in  the  Septuagint  (Greek)  version,  B.  C.  285.  The 
term  is  a  Greek  one,  signifying  a  birth,  a  generation,  or  origin.  The  book 
is  properly  so  called  because  it  gives  an  inspired  account  of  the  origin  of 
all  things — especially  of  mankind  and  of  all  earthly  things.  It  is  here 
declared  that  the  material  universe  was  created  by  God — that  the  earth  is 
not  Eternal,  nor  of  chance  origin,  as  some  heathen  philosophers  have  held, 
nor  self-created,  (as  others  maintain),  but  that  it  had  a  beginning  at  the 
command  of  God,  the  only  Creator.  So  all  the  Books  of  the  Pentateuch, 
or  Five  Books  of  Moses — are  entitled  according  to  the  main  subject  of 
each.  The  Hebrews  call  the  Book  "  Bereshith,"  according  to  their  custom  of 
naming  the  several  Books  of  Scripture  by  the  first  word  in  the  book.  This 
first  word  "  Bereshith  "  means  "  In  (the)  beginning."  In  the  Alexandrine 
Codex  the  title  is  Teveatg  kog/uov.  And  the  Rabbins  entitle  it  the  Book  of 
the  beginning,  or  of  the  Genesis.  Beginning  with  the  creation  of  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth,  and  ending  with  the  death  of  the  patriarchs  Jacob  and 
Joseph,  this  book  records  for  us  not  only  the  beginning  of  the  world  and  of 
mankind,  but  also  of  the  redeeming  preparation  for  establishing  the  King- 
dom of  God. 


GENESIS  HISTORICAL. 

The  effort  of  the  modern  skepticism  has  been  to  throw  doubt  upon  the 
origin  of  Revealed  Religion.  Historical  criticism  has  subjected  both  Tes- 
taments to  the  most  severe  ordeal,  to  find,  if  possible,  some  lack  of  evidence 
in  the  records,  whereby  they  may  be  set  aside  as  "  unhistorical." 

The  chief  assaults  have  been  made  upon  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Gos- 
pels, as  lying  at  the  basis,  respectively,  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

Both  Genesis  and  the  Gospel  by  John  treat  of  "  the  beginning."  Both  com- 
mence with  the  phrase  "  In  {the)  beginning."  Both  treat  of  the  Creation 
and  the  Creator.  Both  have  been  very  specially  assailed  of  late.  In  both 
cases  the  aim  has  been  to  deny  their  authorship  and  their  antiquity — and 
to  prove  them  to  have  been  the  product  of  another  hand,  at  a  later  period. 

In  both  cases,  the  object  has  been  the  same — to  throw  obscurity  upon 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

the  first  things  of  Revelation  and  Religion,  and  to  unsettle  the  populai 
faith,  in  the  Bible  as  the  very  word  of  God. 

It  is  plain  that  the  Scriptures,  in  both  Testaments,  rest  upon  the  histor- 
ical truth  of  the  Pentateuch.  Just  as  Genesis  is  presupposed  by  the  other 
four  books,  or  parts  of  the  Pentateuch,  so  all  the  five  books  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, as  we  shall  show,  are  presupposed  by  the  remainder  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. Hence  the  strenuous  effort  to  impugn  the  substantial  verity  of 
these  original  records,  and  to  resolve  them  into  mere  myth,  legend,  or 
story  founded  on  fact.  The  zeal  in  this  destructive  criticism  can  be 
accounted  for,  only  on  the  ground  of  man's  natural  aversion  from  the 
foundation  truths  of  Scripture.  It  is  an  opposition  to  any  Divine,  written 
rule  of  faith  and  practice.    It  is  a  deep  seated  alienation  from  a  personal  God. 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  critics  start  out  with  a  denial  of  any 
plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  They  assume  that  all  miracle  and 
prophecy  is  impossible— that  is— any  thing  of  the  supernatural,  in  power, 
or  in  knowledge.  But  the  foundation  fact  of  the  Old  Testament  is  the 
Miracle  of  the  Creation ;  and  the  foundation  fact  of  the  New  Testament  is 
the  Miracle  of  the  Incarnation,  in  the  work  of  New  Creation.  And  this 
written  Revelation  itself  is  a  Miracle. 

But  how  have  they  ascertained  that  a  Miracle  is  impossible  with  God  ? 
A  Miracle  is  only  His  extraordinary  working,  according  to  a  higher  law  of 
His  operation.  And  to  say  that  He  cannot  transcend  natural  law,  is  to  say, 
that  He  cannot  work  out  of  His  ordinary  mode,  and  that  He  is  limited  to 
natural  law,  and  Himself  inferior  to  nature,  instead  of  superior  to  it.  The 
result  of  such  a  doctrine  must  be  to  deify  nature  and  to  undeify  God. 

The  object  of  this  destructive  criticism  is  not  merely  to  set  aside  the 
supernatural  from  the  Scriptures,  but  to  deny  what  is  supernatural  in  all 
the  universe — under  the  guise  of  science  to  install  natural  law  in  the 
place  of  a  personal  living  Jehovah.  So  it  is  alleged,  by  the  same  critics, 
that  all  human  history  is  only  the  development  of  natural  law  in  human 
affairs — and  that  every  thing  in  the  world's  annals  proceeds  according  to 
such  a  law  as  admits  no  Divine  intervention  in  history. 

But  there  is  an  historical  basis  of  this  Divine  Religion  apart  from  any 
questions  as  to  the  possibility  of  Inspiration  or  Miracle.  For  the  main 
facts  are  interwoven  with  the  world's  history,  and  the  miraculous  facts 
have  come  down  to  us  equally  attested  with  any  others.  That  there  has 
been  a  creation  and  a  deluge  is  indisputable.  The  proofs  are  every  where 
found.  These  documents  of  Hebrew  Scripture  are  also  the  annals  of  Jew- 
ish History — and  no  history  has  such  ample  evidences.  And  the  miracles 
of  Moses  are  as  much  part  of  the  history  as  anything  that  is  recorded.  To 
deny  them,  is  to  destroy  the  foundations  of  all  history.  So,  in  the  New 
Testament,  the  Apostles  appeal  to  the  most  enlightened  cities  for  the  mi- 
raculous facts  of  their  mission.  And  what  is  supernatural,  in  the  record, 
comes  to  us  on  the  same  historical  basis  as  any  thing  that  is  recorded 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

(See  Restoration  of  Belief)  So  also  the  Jews,  in  our  Lord's  time,  appealed 
to  the  writings  of  Moses,  and  the  New  Testament  accredits  them  as  his, 
and  cites  the  contents  as  inspired. 

Hengstenberg  has  well  said  that  the  denial  of  the  Pentateuch  has  its 
origin  in  the  proneness  of  the  age  to  Naturalism,  which  has  its  root  in  es- 
trangement from  God ! 

If  objectors  can  so  far  impugn  the  Divine  authority  of  these  Mosaic 
records  as  to  hold  them  to  be  "  unhistorical"  this  will  fully  answer  their 
purpose.  If  they  can  make  men  believe  that  this  is  any  thing  less  than 
veritable  history,  then  no  matter  for  them,  nor  for  us,  what  it  is,  or  whose  it 
is.  But  this  is  not  by  any  means  so  easily  done.  They  have  the  advan- 
tage of  the  remote  antiquity  of  these  writings  for  starting  their  skeptical 
conjectures.  But  (1st)  the  whole  presumption  is,  that  what  has  come 
down  to  us  through  long  ages  as  history  is  really  so,  unless  the  contrary 
can  be  established.  (2nd)  They  have  to  account  for  these  records  if  they 
be  not  historical.  They  have  to  show  us  how  they  could  have  originated 
— and  how  they  could  have  obtained  such  universal  currency  and  credence, 
and  how  such  a  people,  so  jealous  of  these  sacred  records,  as  comprising 
the  institutions  of  their  religion,  and  the  annals  of  their  nation,  and  as 
being  the  basis  of  their  legislation,  and  as  containing  the  registers  of  their 
family  descent,  and  the  title  deeds  of  their  property,  could  have  been  so 
utterly  deceived  for  long  ages.  They  have,  also,  (3d)  to  account  for  it  that 
it  should  be  reserved  for  this  late  day,  and  for  them,  to  make  such  a  discov- 
ery as  that  these  primitive  histories  of  the  world  are  fable.  Besides  (4th) 
they  must  show  in  themselves  some  spirit  of  true  historical  investigation, 
apart  from  irreligious  prejudice, — and  some  superior  learning,  apart  from 
empty  speculation  and  fancy,  before  they  can  make  the  world  believe  that 
these  ancient  and  consistent  records  are  not  true.  It  is  not  enough  to  carp 
and  cavil  at  alleged  discrepancies  and  impossibilities  in  the  narrative,  for 
still  the  great,  chief  impossibility  remains  for  them  to  dispose  of — the  "  im- 
possibility "  of  the  whole  Jewish  history — and  of  the  world's  history — if 
this  be  not  history — the  impossibility  of  any  satisfactory  account  of  these 
records,  if  they  be  any  thing  less  than  real  historical  truth. 

I.  The  Mythic  theory,  which,  at  most,  admits  only  a  certain  substratum 
of  history,  refers  the  leading  narratives,  especially  such  as  involve  any 
thing  miraculous,  to  myth.  Or,  these  critics  allege  that  the  origin  of  these 
records  is  something  purely  legendary,  such  as  belongs  to  many  of  the 
earliest  heathen  annals.  But  these  critics  have  opposed  each  other  in 
regard  to  any  theory  of  the  origin  of  such  myths  which  would  be  at  all  in 
keeping  with  the  plain  facts  of  the  case,  or  furnish  any  probable  solution. 
This  theory,  therefore,  is  even  more  difficult  than  that  Avhich  it  opposes. 
And,  only  when  the  whole  Scripture  is  taken  as  historical  truth,  is  it  found 
to  be  simple,  clear,  consistent,  and  in  keeping  with  all  the  known  fact3. 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

and  with  the  long  established  belief,  and  with  the  universal  testimony. 
Especially  the  first  chapters  in  Genesis  are  alleged  to  be  mythical — as  the 
Creation  and  Fall,  etc.  But  the  impossibility  of  these  narratives  being 
mythical,  appears  hence : 

(1.)  That  instead  of  being  diffuse  and  imaginative,  these  records  are  the 
most  sublimely  brief,  concise,  compact  statements ;  farthest  removed  from 
idle  stories  or  legends,  such  as  are  found  in  heathen  annals. 

(2.)  These  accounts  are  found  in  the  midst  of  plain,  geographical  state- 
ments, and  they  bear  every  mark  of  genuine  history. 

(3.)  If  these  records  be  myth,  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  tell  us  how 
they  originated,  and  when ;  and  when  and  how  they  took  documentary 
form,  and  received  their  present  shape  ;  and  how  far  they  are  founded  on 
fact,  or  what  basis  they  could  have  had,  which  would  properly  account  for 
them. 

(4.)  On  all  these  points  the  mythical  critics  dispute  with  each  other  as 
earnestly  as  they  dispute  with  us. 

(5.)  These  narratives  were  committed  to  writing  nearly  a  thousand  years 
before  the  myths  of  the  most  ancient  nations. 

(6.)  These  Records  are  connected — not  disjointed  and  fragmentary  as 
myths  are. 

(7.)  These  narratives  have  nothing  of  the  fictitious  and  fabulous  air 
which  mythical  legends  have,  but  they  refer  to  the  only  living  and  true 
God,  as  Creator  and  Redeemer — and  give  a  simple  and  intelligible  account 
of  the  great  first  facts  of  human  history.  And  all  history  may  as  well  be 
resolved  into  myths  as  this. 

II.  Some  hold  the  narratives  of  the  creation  and  fall  of  man,  etc.,  to  be 
allegorical;  setting  forth  these  ideas  of  man's  natural  and  moral  relations, 
in  the  garb  of  history,  as  a  kind  of  parable.  This  stands  on  no  better 
ground  than  the  former.  Others  admit  the  historical  basis,  and  allegorize 
— finding  another  sense  besides  the  historical,  underlying  the  history. 
Doubtless  the  narratives  have  pregnant  import.  But  the  "allegorical 
sense  "  is  often  made  to  be  anything  but  the  simple,  plain,  substantial  sense 
of  the  history. 

III.  Akin  to  the  mythical  and  allegorical  theories  is  that  of  those  who 
hold  that  these  records  have  originated  in  the  "floating  tradition,"  or  pop- 
ular story,  which  came  afterwards  to  be  put  into  this  form  by  one  or 
another  hand. 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

But,  on  this  theory,  also,  it  is  impossible  to  account  for  the  facts,  or  to 
ferret  out  the  authorship,  and  most  of  all,  to  account  for  the  universal  be- 
lief in  the  history  up  to  the  time  of  the  modern  skepticism.  These  false 
critics  can  not  agree  upon  an  author,  nor  upon  a  date  for  the  book ;  and 
they  differ  among  themselves  on  this  latter  point  by  a  thousand  years. 


AUTHORSHIP,  CREDIBILITY,  ETC. 

"  It  is  an  admitted  rule  of  all  sound  criticism,  (says  Bawlinson,)  that  a 
book  is  to  be  regarded  as  proceeding  from  the  author  whose  name  it  bears, 
unless  very  strong  reasons,  indeed,  can  be  produced  to  the  contrary." 

In  deciding  upon  the  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch,  it  is  important  to 
observe  that  originally  it  was  one  book.  The  term  TrevraTevxoc — from  ttevte, 
(five),  and  revxog,  (volume),  means  simply  a  fivefold  volume.  This  division 
into  five  books,  or  parts,  seems  first  to  have  been  mentioned  by  Josephus, 
and  probably  occurred  subsequently  to  the  captivity,  and  after  the  reading 
of  the  Pentateuch  in  the  synagogues  had  been  commenced.  It  is  more 
commonly  supposed  to  have  originated  with  the  Septuagint  version. 

In  the  Old  Testament  it  is  constantly  referred  to  as  one  book.  It  is 
called  "  the  Law,"  Neh.  viii.  9 ;  "  the  Book  of  the  Law,"  Joshua,  i.  8 : 
Neh.  xiii.  1 ;  "  the  Book  of  the  Covenant,"  2  Kings,  xxiiirHL^  The  unity  of 
the  Book  is  clearly  seen  in  the  contents,  which  form  a  closely  connected 
whole.  This  Book  is  plainly  not  composed  of  scattered  and  disjointed 
fragments,  but  gives  us  a  narrative  of  the  origin  and  early  history  of  the 
human  race  in  brief ;  leading  to  the  history  of  the  patriarchs — their  Divine 
treatment — God's  covenant  with  them — their  development  from  a  family 
to  a  nation — their  institutions,  civil  and  religious,  with  a  view  to  their 
special  culture  in  the  Holy  Land — the  Land  of  Promise.  These  five  por- 
tions belong  to  each  other — each  being  the  proper  key  to  what  follows,  and 
each  being  presupposed  by  the  following.  The  Pentateuch  is  in  one  vol- 
ume in  the  MSS.  rolls  to  this  day,  called  the  Law. 

This  Book  of  the  Law — the  Law  of  Moses — "  the  Book  of  the  Covenant " 
so  often  referred  to,  and  referred  to  as  written  by  Moses,  (Mark,  xii.  26), 
which  book  was  deposited  in  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  given  into  the 
special  charge  of  the  Levites,  to  be  read  publicly  every  seven  years  at  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles,  in  the  hearing  of  all  Israel — and  which  must  have 
descended  thus  with  the  people  of  Israel,  along  with  their  sacred  institu- 
tions there  recorded :  this  book,  which  the  king  was  to  write  a  copy  of, 
for  special  reverence  and  preservation,  could  have  been  none  other  than 
the  Pentateuch ;  unless,  indeed,  any  can  suppose  that  the  genuine  work 
was  lost,  and  that  a  spurious  one  was  substituted  in  its  place,  and  was 
received  as  genuine  and  believed  to  be  such,  without  ever  a  suspicion  be- 
ing raised,  among  friends  or  foes,  during  many  centuries.  This  is  more 
incredible  by  far  than  the  true  theory.     See  Rawlinson's  Hist.  Ed.  p.  55-8. 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

I  f  Moses  was  indeed  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch,  then  we  see  that  tha 
history  is  given  us  by  an  eye  witness,  and  it  follows  that  it  must  be  true 
and  historical,  unless  we  can  suppose  that  he  meant  to  deceive.  They  who 
wish  to  destroy  the  force  of  the  book  as  Divinely  inspired,  labor  to  pr^e  that 
it  was  not  written  by  Moses,  but  by  whom  it  was  written  they  cannot  agree 
even  to  conjecture.  Vacillating  between  the  times  of  Samuel  and  Ezra, 
through  so  many  years,  they  can  fix  upon  no  author.  And  what  won- 
der ?  For  there  is  none  of  these  to  whom  the  history  is  ascribed  in  the 
Scripture,  but  it  is  uniformly  ascribed  to  Moses. 

The  proof  of  the  Mosaic  authorship  is  clearly  established  thus  : 

1.  Beginning  with  the  time  of  the  historian  Manetho,  who  is  so  boasted 
in  early  Egyptian  history,  we  have  the  Septuagint  Greek  version  of  the 
Old  Testament,  made  about  285  B.  C,  and  this  shows  us  that  the  Penta- 
teuch, in  its  present  form,  existed  at  that  time. 

2.  Passing  back  to  the  era  of  the  Jews'  return  from  Babylon,  we  find 
them  acknowledging  the  Pentateuch  as  the  book  of  their  national  law.  It 
could  not  have  been  produced  at  that  period  else  its  acceptance  must  have 
been  local,  and  its  language  more  modern. 

3.  Passing  still  further  back  we  find  the  Samaritans  receiving  the  Pen- 
tateuch— alone  of  all  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures — and  the  same  Penta- 
teuch which  the  Jews  possessed,  and  simply  because  it  was  the  Book  of  the 
Law  given  to  Moses.  This  shows  that  its  authority  was  not  confined  to 
Judah  alone.  For  surely,  as  the  Samaritans  received  it  from  a  priest  of  the 
ten  tribes,  and  these  tribes  would  not  have  received  from  the  kingdom  of 
Judah  a  book  which  established  the  religion  of  Judah,  and  the  form  of 
civil  government,  and  the  laws  by  which  it  was  to  be  administered,  it 
must  have  been  already  a  long  time  in  use  before  the  separation  of  the  ten 
tribes.  It  must,  therefore,  be  as  old  as  the  time  of  the  Judges,  and  that 
was  too  near  the  time  of  Moses  for  a  forgery  of  it  as  Moses's,  by  another,  as 
Samuel ;  even  if  any  one  could  suppose  Samuel  to  be  a  forger.  They 
who  ascribe  the  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch  to  Samuel,  while  it  all  along 
purports  to  be  from  Moses,  must  believe  this  monstrous  absurdity. 

But  4.  The  Mosaic  writings  could  not  have  been  produced  at  any  period 
subsequent  to  Samuel,  since  they  make  no  mention  of  the  order  of  kings 
which  was  instituted  in  Samuel's  time.  The  Mosaic  code  refers  to  a  kingly 
government  as  an  innovation,  which  the  people  would  introduce  after  the 
heathen  custom.     Beut.  xvii.-O. 

Again  5.  The  whole  history  of  Samuel  and  his  time  recognizes  the  Mo- 
saic ritual  as  already  in  use,  and  presupposes  the  entire  Mosaic  history, 
and  can  not  be  understood  if  these  writings  of  Moses,  in  the  Pentateuch, 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

be  not  taken  as  they  stand — the  necessary  preliminary  and  basis  of  the 
whole  subsequent  history.  . 

Further  6.  "If  the  Mosaic  Law  had  not  been  universally  known  and 
revered  as  of  Divine  authority  long  before  the  time  of  Samuel,  it  could 
never  have  been  compiled  and  received  during  the  kingly  government. 
Samuel  would  not  have  ventured  to  oppose  the  wishes  of  the  people  in 
appointing  a  king,  on  the  pretext  of  its  being  a  rejection  of  God  for  their 
king ;  nor  would  he  have  attempted  to  impose  such  restraints  on  the  mon- 
arch of  the  Jews,  if  unsupported  by  a  previously  admitted  authority 
Such  a  fabrication  would  never  have  escaped  detection  and  exposure,  either 
by  Saul,  who,  for  the  last  years  of  his  life,  was  in  constant  enmity  with  Sam- 
uel— or  by  Solomon,  who,  amidst  his  power  and  prosperity,  must  have  felt 
his  fame  wounded  and  his  passions  rebuked  by  the  stern  condemnation  of 
the  Mosaic  Law.  Samuel,  therefore,  could  not  have  been  the  compiler  of 
the  Pentateuch."    See  Dean  Graves's  Lectures. 

But  the  theory  of  those  who  ascribe  this  work  to  Samuel  is  that  he 
"  gathered  up  the  legendary  reminiscences  which  he  found  floating  about 
in  his  time,  and  endeavored  to  give  them  unity  and  substance  by  connect- 
ing them  into  a  continuous  narrative  for  the  instruction  and  improvement 
of  his  pupils,  as  a  mere  historical  experiment."  But  who,  upon  any  reflec- 
tion, could  receive  such  a  theory  of  these  writings?  To  say  nothing  fur- 
ther of  the  wilful  fraud,  in  which  Samuel  is  supposed  to  write  as  if  he 
were  Moses,  is  it  meant  that  Samuel  framed  the  Levitical  law  with  its 
minute  institutes  and  exact  ritual,  and  made  it  appear  to  the  people  as  if 
it  had  been  instituted  long  before  in  the  wilderness,  and  practiced  by  their 
nation  then  and  ever  since,  for  five  hundred  years  ?  Or,  is  it  meant  that 
these  details,  composing  so  extensive  and  thorough  a  system  of  laws  and 
worship,  were  gathered  up  from  floating  traditions,  or  legendary  reminis- 
ences?  This,  indeed,  would  be  miraculous,  and,  therefore,  according  to  the 
assumption  of  these  theorists,  it  is  not  supposable,  since  a  miracle  is  in 
their  view  impossible. 

Can  any  one  who  reflects  a  moment  believe  that  all  this  closely  con- 
nected history — this  extensive  journal  of  a  forty  years'  sojourn,  with 
names  and  dates,  and  daily  incidents,  is  a  mere  compilation  of  legendary 
reminiscences  afloat  among  the  people  ?  The  theory  is  simply  absurd,  and 
requires  far  greater  credulity  than  is  charged  upon  the  believers  in  Inspi- 
ration, and  Miracle,  and  Prophecy. 

If  then,  (1)  it  were  pretended  that  Samuel  gathered  all  these  exact  and 
minute  details  of  laws  and  histories  from  floating  traditions,  and  framed 
them  into  a  connected  whole,  as  we  have  them  in  the  Pentateuch,  this 
would  be  supposing  an  impossibility,  except  by  miracle,  for  such  minute 
and  connected  details  could  not  have  been  gathered  from  floating  traditions. 

If  (2)  he  received  them  by  revelation,  then  the  object  of  the  false  critica 
is  not  gained,  which  is  to  deny  the  Divine  origin  of  the  records. 


x!v  INTRODUCTION. 

If  (3)  Samuel  merely  represented  these  Institutions,  (the  laws  and  cu3 
toms,)  as  supernaturally  revealed — merely  as  the  heathen  legislators  did,  to 
attach  authority  to  their  lessons — then  Samuel  would  need  to  be  regarded 
in  the  light  of  an  impostor. 

j^nd  so,  also,  (4)  his  representing  these  Institutions  as  revealed  of  old  to 
the  fathers,  or  leaders,  of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  so  representing,  merely 
for  public  effect,  and  without  any  basis  of  truth,  for  this  is  the  theory 
referred  to,  would  be  utterly  inconsistent  with  his  character  for  veracity 
and  honesty. 

(5.)  This  being  a  system  so  complicated  and  expensive  as  to  require  the 
highest  authority  for  its  enforcement  upon  the  people,  how  could  he  make 
them  believe  all  the  history  of  the  Exodus,  the  giving  of  the  law,  etc., 
without  any  substantial  foundation  in  fact  ?  "  Could  any  one  suppose  that 
a  book  of  statutes  might  be  now  forged,  or  could  have  been  forged  at  any 
time,  for  any  modern  nation,  and  imposed  upon  the  people  for  the  only 
book  of  statutes  that  they  and  their  fathers  had  ever  known  ?"  Whence 
came  the  tabernacle,  with  all  its  ordinances,  if  we  do  not  presuppose  the 
historical  facts  connected  with  its  establishment  ?  And  if  all  this  be  "  un- 
Mstorical,"  are  we  to  suppose  that  Moses  also  is  a  myth?  and  that  the 
whole  history  is  a  fable  ?  Then  why  not  all  ancient  history,  and,  indeed, 
all  history? 

Observe  (1.)— The  New  Testament  sets  forth,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, the  profound  meaning  of  the  Mosaic  institutions,  and  argues  the 
superiority  of  the  New  Testament  economy,  by  proving  Jesus  to  be  greater 
than  Moses. 

Observe  (2.) — There  are,  at  least,  two  distinct  citations  of  the  Penta- 
teuch to  be  found  in  the  Books  of  Samuel — 1  Samuel  ii.  13,  compare  Deut. 
xviii.  3 ;  and  1  Samuel  ii.  22,  compare  Exodus  xxxviii.  8. 

John  has  well  said  that  the  point  to  be  proved  by  objectors  is  that  it  is 
impossible  that  the  Pentateuch  should  be,  or,  on  historic  grounds,  should 
be  conceived  to  be,  the  genuine  work  of  Moses ;  and  that  it  must  necessa- 
rily be  a  more  recent  work,  and  be  so  reputed — this  is  what  should  have 
been  proved  by  historical  and  critical  arguments  to  make  the  objector's 
position  good.  It  is  by  no  means  sufficient  to  have  started  doubts — to 
have  urged  suspicions — to  have  framed  conjectures.  " That  the  testi- 
mony for  the  genuineness  of  these  books  may  be  rendered  suspicious  by  little 
sophisms  proves  nothing.  Since  it  is  possible  by  conjectures  and  artifices 
of  this  soft  to  render  the  veracity  of  the  most  honest  man  so  doubtful  as 
that  even  an  upright  judge  may  hesitate."  "The  least  that  can  be  re- 
quired is  to  prove  first  that  the  author  himself,  and  all  subsequent  wit. 
nesses,  either  could  not,  or  would  not  speak  the  truth ;  and  secondly,  that 
the  Pentateuch  can  in  no  wise  be,  or  be  considered,  a  production  of  Mosea 
or  his  age."    Jahn's  Int.,  page  195. 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

1.  That  Moses  himself  wrote  the  Book  of  the  Law,  or  the  Pentateuch, 
and  "all  the  words  of  it  until  they  were  finished,''  is  expressly  stated  at  the 
close  of  the  whole,  and  just  preceding  the  narrative  of  his  death,  (Deut. 
xxxi.  9-14,  and  22-24.)  The  book  was  most  carefully  delivered  by  him  to 
the  charge  of  the  priests  to  be  placed  in  the  ark,  Deut.  xxxi.  20,  and  to  be 
read  before  Israel  every  seven  years  at  the  feast  of  tabernacles ;  that  feast 
which  specially  commemorated  their  sojourn  in  the  wilderness.  In  Exo- 
dus xvii.  14  it  is  referred  to  as  "  the  Book " — the  volume  well  known  as 
"  written  by  Moses,"  and  here,  and  from  time  to  time,  he  received  direc- 
tions to  write  further  records  in  this  same  book — as,  for  example,  the  Deca- 
logue ;  see  Exodus,  xxiv.  4r-7 ;  Exodus,  xxxiv.  27 :  "  And  Moses  wrote  all 
the  words  of  the  Lord,"  etc. 

Indeed,  we  have  the  author's  name  expressly  indicated  in  many  places, 
and  these  are  such  important  and  prominent  portions  as  to  carry  with 
them  all  the  rest — so  closely  connected — as  of  the  same  authorship. 
Throughout  Deuteronomy,  excepting  a  very  few  minor  passages,  we  have 
Moses  speaking  in  his  own  person,  of  himself,  and  of  the  history  in  which 
he  was  so  immediately  concerned.  We  have  "  the  Song  of  Moses,"  chapter 
xxxii,  and  "  the  Blessing  of  Moses,"  chapter  xxxiii,  before  his  death. 

In  chapter  xxxi.  9  we  find  that  Moses  himself  not  merely  dictated  the 
law,  but  actually  wrote  it  himself :  "  And  Moses  wrote  this  law,"  etc.  And 
farther,  that  it  was  written  "in  a  look"  by  him,  verses  25,  26. 

And  then  we  have  his  own  exhortations  and  addresses,  Deut.  i.  29-31 ; 
ii.  26;  v.  5 ;  xi.  2,  3,  5,  7;  xxxi.  2.     See,  especially,  Deut.  xxviii.  61. 

2.  At  the  close  of  the  Book  of  Numbers  it  is  expressly  stated  that  the 
records  are  "the  commandments  and  the  judgments  which  the  Lord  com- 
manded, by  the  hand  of  Moses,"  etc.,  Numbers  xxxvi.  13.  This  is  a  formal 
notice  of  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  book.  And  then,  after  the  recapit- 
ulation in  Deuteronomy,  with  additions  and  explanations,  it  is  there  again 
formally  stated  to  the  same  effect.  No  one  would  take  any  other  impres- 
sion from  these  passages  than  that  these  are  the  records  as  given  by  Moses. 

3.  In  the  historical  books  next  following,  this  "  book  of  the  laic  of  Moses  " 
is  distinctly  referred  to  :  Joshua,  i.  7,  8 ;  viii.  31,  32-34  ;  xxiii.  6-16.  Thus, 
there  is  testimony,  within  some  few  years  after  Moses'  decease,  and  from 
one  who  must  have  personally  known  Moses. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  Books  of  Ruth  and  Judges,  there  are  plain  traces  of 
the  Pentateuch.  See  Ruth,  iv.  3-5 ;  also,  Judges  i.  20,  "  as  Moses  said,"  iii. 
4,  etc.  So,  also,  historical  references,  Judges,  i.  2,  5 ;  ii.  11,  12 ;  v.  4 ;  vi.  8, 
9,13;  x.  11,  12. 

So,  also,  in  the  Books  of  Samuel,  the  Pentateuch  is  clearly  referred  to — as 
the  tabernacle  and  ark  :  1  Sam.  iii.  3  ;  vi.  13 ;  2  Sam.  vii.  2  :  and  the  Exodus 
— 1  Sam.  xv.  2-6 ;  and  the  various  ordinances  of  the  law — 1  Sam.  xiv. 
32-37 ;  xx.  5 ;  xviii.  27 ;  xxi.  3,  4 ;  xxviii.  30 ;  xxx.  7,  8.  Many  narratives 
in  the  Books  of  Samuel  are  unintelligible,  except  by  a  reference  to  the  Pen 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

tateueh,  1  Samuel,  ii.  13,  (see  Dent,  xviii.  3,  and  Leviticus,  vii.  29.)  Sc 
1  Samuel,  vi.  15,  (see  Numbers,  i.  50, 51.)  And  1  Samuel,  xiv.  37 ;  xxii.  10 ;  xxiii 
2,  3 ;  xxx.  7,  8  (see  Exodus,  xxviii.  30,  Numbers,  xxvii.  21.)  "In  this  book 
we  find  all  these  ordinances  of  the  Pentateuch — the  tabernacle  of  the  con- 
gregation— the  ark  of  the  covenant — the  yearly  visitation — the  rejoicing 
with  the  whole  household — the  duties  of  the  priests  and  Levites,  the  altar, 
the  incense,  and  the  Ephod,  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  the  priest's  dues, 
and  the  manner  in  which  they  were  to  be  received,  the  inquiring  of  the 
Lord  by  the  priests,  the  new  moon,  the  laws  concerning  ceremonial  un- 
cleanness,  wizards  and  possessors  of  familiar  spirits.  Many  of  these  are 
described  in  the  exact  and  peculiar  language  of  the  Pentateuch."  Dr. 
Alexander  McCaul. 

So,  also,  in  1  Kings,  David  enjoins  upon  Solomon  to  observe  all  the  pre- 
cepts, and  keep  the  charge  "  as  it  is  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,"  1  Kings, 
ii.  3.  In  2  Kings,  xiv.  6,  "  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses  "  is  expressly  re- 
ferred to.  And  in  2  Kings,  xxii.  8,  this  "  book  of  the  law,"  called,  also, 
the  book  of  the  covenant — and  "  the  oook  of  the  law  of  the  Lord,  (written,) 
l)i/  Moses,"  is  related  to  have  been  found  in  the  temple  by  the  High 
Priest,  Hilkiah,  after  a  long  period  of  its  neglect ;  2  Chron.  xxxiv.  14.  See 
also  2  Kings,  xxiii.  3,  and  2  Chron.  xxiii.  18 ;  xxv.  4.  And  Josiah,  the 
king,  is  said  to  have  "  turned  to  the  Lord  with  all  his  heart,  according 
to  all  the  Law  of  Moses,"  2  Kings,  xxiii.  25.  And  this  bringing  out  of  the 
law  of  Moses  before  the  people,  was  the  means  of  a  great  reformation  in 
his  time. 

He  kept  a  great  Passover,  "  as  it  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Moses," 
2  Chron.  xxxv.  12,  18.  Some  well  known  sacred  volume  is  here  evidently 
referred  to,  comprising  the  law,  (Hebrew,  Tor  ah  teaching,)  which  God  gave 
to  Israel,  including  the  history  of  the  nation  "  by  the  hand  of  Moses."  Some 
have  supposed  that  this  was  the  original  copy  which  was  commanded  to  be 
laid  up  in  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  which  was  now  found,  Deuterono- 
my, xxxi.  24-26. 

That  this  "  Book  of  the  Law  "  was  not  merely  the  Book  of  Deuterono- 
my, much  less  the  Decalogue,  as  some  have  contended,  is  plain  from  the 
fact  that  the  Passover  was  celebrated  on  the  basis  of  the  directions  found 
in  this  Book,  and  it  could  have  been  only  in  Exodus,  (see  Ex.  xii.  1-20,) 
and  Numbers,  (see  Numb,  xxviii.  16-25,)  that  the  full  directions  were  found. 
In  Deuteronomy  they  are  few,  (see  Deut.  xvi.  1-8.)  But  the  former  two  Books 
plainly  presupposed  the  Book  of  Genesis,  as  introductory  to  them,  and  in- 
complete and  unintelligible  without  them.  Indeed,  this  very  Book  of 
Deuteronomy  presupposes  throughout  the  other  four  books  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, and  they  are  constantly  spoken  of  together  as  the  Law. 

The  Psalms,  also,  constantly  refer  to  "  the  Law,"  as  the  119th  Psalm— 
a  manual  of  devotion — in  every  verse  of  it.  And  the  1st  Psalm,  which  was, 
perhaps,  written  by  Ezra  as  an  introduction  to  the  whole  Book  of  Psalms, 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

or  selected  from  David's  or  others'  Psalms,  as  most  proper  for  an  introduc- 
tory Psalm,  refers  entirely  to  "  the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  as  a  whole — some- 
thing to  he  read,  and  meditated  on,  and  kept  in  the  daily  conduct.  Psalm 
Ixviii.  is  remarkably  full  of  historical  references.  Psalms  lxxiv.,  lxxvi., 
Ixxviii.,  civ.,  cv.,  cvi.,  cxxxiii.,  cxxxv.,  cxxxvi.,  and  others,  refer  to  the  his- 
tory in  the  Pentateuch  most  strikingly  and  conclusively.  See  Ps.  xxix.  10 ; 
see,  also,  Ps.  viii.  referring  to  Genesis,  and  Ps.  cxxxii.  referring  to  the  Levit- 
ical  service. 

Psalm,  ex.  4,  refers  to  Melchisedec,  and  so  it  is  cited  and  expounded  by 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The  Law  is  also  spoken  of  as  a  written 
volume,  see  Ps.  xl.  7. 

The  Proverbs,  also,  make  constant  reference  to  the  Pentateuch,  and  hold 
up  "  the  Law  "  as  the  basis  of  all  wise  and  happy  living,  and  as  accordant 
with  all  men's  experience  of  truth,  and  duty,  and  prosperity  in  this  life. 
The  peculiar  phraseology  of  the  Pentateuch  is  frequently  used,  showing 
that  these  writings  of  Moses  must  have  been  in  use  in  the  time  of  Solo- 
mon, Prov.  x.  18  ;  Heb.  Numb.  xiii.  32.  Prov.  xi.  1 ;  xx.  10,  23  are  from 
Lev.  xix.  36,  and  Deut.  xxv.  13.  In  Prov.  xi.  13 ;  xx.  19,  the  peculiar 
phrase  is  from  Lev.  xix.  16 ;  Prov.  xvii.  15  is  from  Exodus,  xxiii.  7,  and 
Deut.  xxv.  1. 

So,  also,  the  Old  Testament  prophets  constantly  base  their  warnings  and 
threatenings  upon  "  the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  as  something  in  documentary 
form,  and  well  known  and  in  use  among  the  people.  Isaiah,  and  his  con- 
temporaries in  the  time  of  Uzziah,  Jotham,  Ahaz,  and  Hezekiah,  speak  of 
" the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  chapter  v.  24 ;  xxx.  9.  He  calls  it  " the  Book"  as 
we  say  the  Bible,  chapter  xxix.  18.  See,  also,  most  remarkably,  chapter 
lxiii.  11-14.  So  Hosea  speaks  of  the  Law  as  written,  chapter  viii.  12  ;  see, 
also,  chapter  vi.  7  ;  see,  also,  Hosea,  ii.  15 ;  xi.  1,  8.  And  compare  ii.  17 
and  Exodus,  xxiii.  13  ;  compare  iii.  1  and  Deut.  xxxi.  16  ;  compare  iv.  10 
and  Levit.  xxvi.  26.  So  Micah,  vii.  15-20,  refers  to  the  history  of  the  pa- 
triarchs— and  chapter  vi.  5,  to  Balaam,  and  vi.  4,  to  the  Exodus.  Amos,  ii. 
4,  also,  chapter  iv.  11 ;  ii.  10 ;  iii.  1 ;  v.  25.  So  compare  Amos,  ii.  7  and 
Exodus,  xxiii.  6.  Amos,  ii.  8,  compare  Exodus,  xxii.  25 ,  Amos,  ii.  9,  com- 
pare Numbers,  xiii.  32,  33  ;  Amos,  ii.  10,  compare  Deut.  xxix.  2. 

In  Jeremiah,  also,  the  Law  is  very  frequently  referred  to  and  cited,  chap- 
ter ii.  6,  8 ;  vi.  19  ;  viii.  8 ;  ix.  13 ;  xvi.  11 ;  xxii.  22.  Chapter  iv.  4,  com- 
pare Deut.  x.  16.  In  his  days,  "  the  Book  of  the  Law,"  long  neglected,  was 
found  in  the  temple  by  Hilkiah,  who  refers  to  it  as  a  volume  which  had 
been  well  known  and  lost,  2  Chron.  xxxiv.  15. 

So,  also,  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  see  chapters  xviii.  and  xx.  throughout. 
This  prophet  employs  terms  and  figures  peculiar  to  the  Pentateuch,  chap- 
ter v.  11 ;  vii.  4,  9 ;  viii.  18 ;  ix.  5,  10.     Compare  chapter  v.  2,  12 ;  xii.  14, 


xviii  INTRODUCTION. 

-with  Exodus,  xv.  9  ;  Leviticus,  xxvi.  33.    He  refers  to  the  Law  as  known 
by  priests  and  people  as  of  Divine  authority,  Ezek.  xi.  12  ;  xviii.  21. 

It  is  not  disputed  that  such  a  writing  was  known  to  the  prophets  of  the 
Restoration,  and  to  the  people  of  their  time.  So,  also,  the  historical  hooks 
subsequent  to  the  Captivity,  plainly  refer  back  to  the  Pentateuch  as  well 
known,  and  acknowledged  to  be  written  by  Moses. 

Ezra,  iii.  2  refers  to  the  laws  about  burnt-offerings  in  Leviticus,  "  as  it  is 
written  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  the  man  of  God."  Again,  in  Ezra,  vi.  18,  at 
the  dedication  of  the  second  temple,  the  priests  and  Levites  were  arranged 
expressly  according  "  as  it  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Moses." 

So,  also,  Nehemiah  makes  frequent  references  to  the  Pentateuch,  show- 
ing that  the  Jewish  people,  through  all  their  changes  of  exile  and  return, 
acknowledged  this  written  book  of  the  law  of  God  by  Moses.  Even 
Be  Wette  admits  that  "  in  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  the  mention  of  the  Penta- 
teuch as  we  now  have  it,  is  as  certain  as  it  is  frequent."  By  some  the 
Pentateuch  has  been  ascribed  to  Ezra.  But  Ezra  is  shown  to  be  witness 
against  this  when  he  says,  "  as  it  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Moses,"  see 
chapter  vi.  18.  But  Daniel,  also,  mentions  the  Pentateuch  before  the  time 
of  Ezra,  Dan.  ix.  11-13. 

Ezra  may,  indeed,  have  copied  the  Pentateuch  at  the  Reformation  in  his 
time — in  which  case  he  would  naturally  have  appended  certain  notices,  as 
of  Moses'  death — yet  by  the  same  Divine  inspiration.  This  gives,  then,  the 
testimony  of  the  continuator. 

And  so  Malachi,  at  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  revelation,  says :  "  Re- 
member ye  the  law  of  Moses,  my  servant,  which  I  commanded  unto  him 
in  Horeb  for  all  Israel,  with  the  statutes  and  judgments." 

The  passage  which  is,  also,  adduced  against  the  Mosaic  authorship, 
(Numb.  xii.  3,)  "  Now  the  man  Moses  was  very  meek,"  etc.,  is  accounted 
for  by  the  Divine  inspiration  which  dictated  it.  It  is  not  the  mere  word 
of  Moses,  but  the  word  of  God. 

That  the  death  of  Moses  is  recorded  at  the  close  of  Deut.,  (chapter  xxxiv. 
5,)  is  argued  by  objectors  as  proof  that  the  books  were  not  written  by 
Moses ;  as  though  such  a  notice  could  not  have  been  appended  by  another, 
and  upon  the  same  Divine  authority  as  directed  the  writing  of  the  books 
by  Moses.  Eeil,  in  his  recent  work,  (p.  xxii.,  note)  refers  to  a  similar  in- 
stance in  a  well  known  work  by  John  Sleidanus,  (see  Hengst.  Beitrage,  2, 
lxxx.,)  at  the  close  of  which  the  death  of  the  author  is  narrated.  Of  course, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  note  that  such  an  addition  must  have  been  from  an- 
other hand,  and  could  not  claim  to  be  from  the  author  of  the  book,  inas- 
much as  no  one  could  be  supposed  to  write  an  account  of  his  own  death. 
Besides  the  narrative  of  the  death  and  burial  is  not  given  until  after  it  has 
been  expressly  stated  that  he  had  finished  his  work,  and  transferred  it  to 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

the  Levites,  from  which  it  would  at  once  be  understood  that  the  closing 
and  supplementary  paragraph  did  not  claim  to  be  from  him. 


INTERNAL  EVIDENCE. 

That  tlie  Pentateuch  could  not  have  been  compiled  from  "floating  tradi- 
tions" after  the  time  of  Moses,  nor  by  any  one  from  Samuel  to  Ezra,  is 
plain. 

For,  1.  The  Book  is  written  evidently  by  a  contemporary  of  the  events, 
and  an  eye-witness,  as  Moses  was.  If  written  by  any  other  than  Moses, 
then  it  is  a  forgery  claiming  to  be  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  but  really  by  an- 
other, and  thus  imposed  upon  the  nation  in  his  name.  But  this  cannot  be. 
No  motive  could  be  imagined  for  such  an  imposture.  Nor  could  it  have 
been  possible  if  we  can  give  any  weight  to  the  internal  evidence  of  author- 
ship. 

The  style  is  every  where  simple  and  artless.  The  history  is  full  of  mi 
nute  detail,  precisely  such  as  supposes  the  author  to  have  been  an  eye- 
witness. And  this  is  every  where  claimed.  The  minutiae  are  such  as  must 
have  been  recorded  at  the  time — details  of  marches — geographical  sites — 
routes,  etc.,  and  with  the  origin  of  the  names  often  in  the  events  themselves 
— and  all  the  items  of  the  history  agreeing  together  as  a  consistent  whole, 
and  agreeing,  also,  with  the  known  character  of  Moses,  and  with  the  sup- 
position that  he,  and  no  other  than  he,  is  the  author. 

Moreover,  that  the  Books  of  the  Pentateuch  belong  to  this  period,  is 
indicated  by  the  command  of  God  to  Moses,  "  to  write  the  discomfiture  of 
Amalek  for  a  memorial  in  a  book,"  (Exodus,  xvii.  14,)  (literally,  in  the 
Book,  showing  that  there  was  a  book  for  these  memorials,  and  that  this  book 
was  the  writing  of  Moses.) 

2.  The  language  of  the  Pentateuch  is  a  further  proof  of  its  Mosaic  au- 
thorship. If  it  had  been  written  at  a  later  period,  there  would  have  been 
found  such  modern  words  and  phrases  as  would  indicate  the  later  date. 
But  antiquated  words  abound,  such  as  fix  its  antiquity.  John  notes  two 
hundred  words  peculiar  to  the  Pentateuch,  besides  phrases.  There  are, 
also,  Egyptian  terms,  or  traces  of  such,  which  only  an  Egyptian  would 
use.  The  style,  especially  in  Deuteronomy,  could  have  been  feigned  by  no 
one,  nor  could  any  one  have  so  completely  assimed  the  person  of  Moses, 
or  have  spoken  to  the  people,  as  they  were  then  circumstanced,  in  the 
manner  in  which  he  speaks.     "  See  John" 

3.  The  Pentateuch  is  manifestly  written  according  to  the  progress  of  the 
extents.  Statutes  are  recorded  as  they  were  made,  and  their  subsequent 
alteration,  or  repeal,  is  afterwards  recorded  as  it  came  to  pass,  and  as  per- 
sons of  a  later  age  could  not  have  known,  in  such  connection  ;  all  bearing 


xxii  INTRODUCTION. 

we  could  rej  act  the  proof  of  the  one,  we  could,  also,  equally  of  the  other. 
So  when  He  says,  "  Moses  gave  unto  you  circumcision,"  He  endorses  the 
history  of  that  ordinance  as  given  by  Moses,  and  recorded  by  Moses,  Levit. 
xii.  3 ;  and  He  in  the  same  sentence  endorses  the  account  given  by  Moses 
in  Genesis,  xvii.  10,  and  received  by  them  as  his — that  the  ordinance  of 
circumcision  was  "  of  the  fathers."  See,  also,  Acts,  iii.  22,  referring  to 
Deut.  xviii.  15 ;  Acts,  xxviii.  23,  Rom.  x.  5,  6,  referring  to  Levit.  xviii.  5, 
and  Deut.  xxx.  12,  13. 

The  only  way  in  which  this  positive  testimony  of  the  New  Testament 
can  be  evaded,  is  by  denying  the  inspiration  and  Divine  authority  of  the 
New  Testament  writings.  And  the  extremity  to  which  deniers  of  the  Mo- 
saic authorship  of  the  Pentateuch  have  been  driven  appears  from  the  fact, 
that  a  late  assailant  discredits  the  testimony  of  our  Lord  Himself — and  as- 
cribes it  to  His  human  ignorance !  that  as  man,  He  knew  no  better ;  and 
hence,  that  in  this  particular,  of  course,  the  assailant  claims  to  know  more 
than  our  Lord  Jesus  Himself.  So  utterly  demented  must  a  man  become 
who  would  reject  the  Divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures. 

Some,  indeed,  soften  the  harshness  of  this  denial  by  the  theory  that  our 
Lord  and  His  inspired  apostles  merely  accommodated  their  language  to  the 
Jewish  notions.  But  no  such  shift  can  be  fairly  made.  How  should  we 
know  to  what  portion  of  our  Lord's  sayings  this  theory  could  not  be  ap- 
plied ?  It  would  destroy  the  Divine  authority,  even  of  our  Lord's  gospel 
teachings.  But  it  is  plain  that  Jesus  bases  His  claims  upon  the  testimony 
of  Moses — challenges  the  faith  of  the  Jews  by  their  faith  in  these  very 
writings  of  Moses,  and  plainly  makes  Moses'  authority  as  an  inspired  wri- 
ter, one  with  His  own.  A  belief  in  Christ  stands  in  closest  connection  with 
a  belief  in  Moses  and  his  writings.  This  is  the  declaration  of  Christ  Him 
self  to  the  Jews.  And  by  the  writings  of  Moses,  literally,  "  the  Scriptures 
of  Moses"  He  means  those  Scriptures  which  the  Jews,  whom  He  addressed, 
acknowledged  to  be  the  Scriptures,  or  writings  of  Moses.  And  these,  we 
have  shown,  were  never  any  other — neither  more  nor  less — than  the  five 
Books  of  Moses,  called,  at  that  time,  by  the  Greek  translators,  the  Penta- 
teuch. So,  also,  it  is  recorded  by  Luke,  that  "  beginning  at  Moses  and  all 
the  prophets  He  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  con- 
cerning Himself,"  (Luke,  xxiv.  27.)  So,  also,  "  Moses  and  the  prophets  "  are 
spoken  of  repeatedly,  precisely  as  would  he  the  case  if  these  writings  are  the 
writings  of  Moses.  But  if  they  are  not,  there  are  no  other  books  ascribed 
to  him,  and  this  language  of  the  New  Testament  cannot  be  understood. 
Besides,  if  we  could  believe  that  Christ  and  His  apostles  either  accommo- 
dated themselves  to  the  current  Jewish  notions  of  their  day,  or  that  Christ 
Himself  was  on  a  level  with  men  of  his  age,  in  knowledge  of  such  matters, 
and,  therefore,  ascribed  to  Moses  the  authorship  only  because  He  knew  no 
better,  we  must  believe  that  they  ascribed  to  God  "  words  that  were  never 


INTRODUCTION.  xxiii 

spoken,  (as,  at  the  bush,  Luke,  xx.  37,)  that  they  founded  lessons  and 
warnings  upon  transactions  which  never  happened,  (as  the  Deluge,  Luke, 
xvii.  26,)  accredited  miracles  which  were  never  performed,  (John,  vi.  49  ; 
1  Cor.  x.  1-10 ;  Heb.  ad.)"    See  N.  Brit.  Rev.  Feb.  '63,  p.  26-7. 

So,  it  is  said  by  Christ  Himself,  "  Did  not  Moses  give  you  the  Law  ?" 
And  John,  the  evangelist,  says,  "  The  Law  was  given  by  Moses,"  John,  vii. 
19-23,  and  John  i.  17.  It  must  be  plain  that  this  implies  that  those  writ- 
ings, ascribed  to  Moses,  called  "  the  Law,"  were  meant  to  be  declared  by 
Christ  as  written  by  Moses.  And  the  theory  that  they  were  written  by 
Samuel,  or  any  other,  is  inconsistent  with  the  giving  of  the  law  by  Moses. 
The  books  themselves,  as  has  been  seen,  purport  to  have  been  written  by 
Moses,  and  this  is  the  whole  presumption  of  the  case.  So,  also,  the  apos- 
tles and  elders  at  Jerusalem  declare  at  that  time,  (A.  D.  50,)  "  Moses,  of  old 
time,  hath  in  every  city  them  that  preach  him,  being  read  in  the  synagogues 
every  Sabbath  day,"  Acts,  xv.  21.  This  passage  plainly  refers  to  the  writ- 
ings, which  were  then,  and  all  along  of  old  time,  believed  to  have  been 
written  by  Moses ;  and  the  fact  is  thus  endorsed  by  the  highest  authority. 

And  what  adequate  motive  can  be  ascribed  to  Samuel,  or  any  other,  for 
creating  the  false  impression  that  Moses  was  the  author  if  he  was  not — or, 
that  the  history  was  true  if  it  was  not  ?  And  what  motive  had  all  the  in- 
spired writers  quoted  above,  to  propagate  this  impression  if  it  was  false  ? 
And  what  has  any  one  gained  by  maintaining  that  Moses  was  not  the 
author,  when  this  is  plainly  the  whole  presumption  of  the  writings,  and 
of  the  entire  history — and  when  this  has  been  the  universal  belief  of  the 
Church  in  all  ages — and  when  it  was  the  belief  of  the  inspired  writers, 
and  of  Christ  Himself  ? 

Again.  The  general  credibility  of  these  records  may  be  arrived  at  from 
the  notorious  and  admitted  facts,  and  upon  the  commonest  principles  of 
historical  evidence.  For  example,  the  Jewish  nation,  as  it  exists  in  the 
earth  a  most  remarkable  people,  has  a  history  which  cannot  be  disputed. 
They  are  admitted  to  be  the  descendants  of  Abraham.  That  they  lived  in 
the  Holy  Land  under  a  peculiar  system  of  religious  institutions,  no  one  will 
deny.  That  they  migrated  thither  from  Egypt,  under  Moses  as  their  lead- 
er, is  equally  plain.  This  great  fact  of  the  Exodus  is  so  bound  up  with  all 
the  other  parts  of  the  history  as  to  be  a  key  to  it,  and  yet  no  one  hesitates 
in  admitting  this  event.  How,  then,  is  it  to  be  accounted  for,  except  we 
suppose  their  history  in  Egypt  to  have  been  what  it  is  here  declared  ?  Then, 
how  is  their  separate  living  in  Egypt  to  be  explained,  if  we  do  not  take 
the  account  of  Jacob's  migration  with  his  family  as  here  given  ?  All  that 
is  known  of  Egypt  as  a  grain-growing  country,  and  of  its  government 
under  the  Pharaohs,  and  of  its  relations  to  Palestine  and  the  psople  there, 
makes  the  whole  history  natural  and  credible  of  itself.  And  we  cannot 
suppose  it  possible  that  the  Jewish  nation  would  have  received  the  history 
from  the  earliest  times,  or  at  any  time,  as  correct,  if  it  had  not  ample  proof 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION. 

within  itsalf,  in  accordance  with  all  the  testimonies.  The  very  fact  that 
the  uniform  belief  of  the  Jewish  nation  from  the  beginning  has  accorded 
the  authorship  of  these  writings  to  Moses,  is  in  itself  a  presumptive  proof 
which  cannot  easily  be  overturned.  None  could  claim  to  know  better 
than  they.  None  were  more  cweful  to  know,  and  to  transmit  the  knowl- 
edge than  they. 


THE  HISTORICO-SCIENTIFIO  EVIDENCE. 

Theology  is  the  highest  of  all  sciences.  As  regards  its  domain  of  inves- 
tigation it  comprehends  all  truth,  and  subordinates  to  itself  all  research. 
The  knowledge  of  God  is  the  most  exalted  of  all  knowledges,  and  all  that 
is  really  known  within  the  broad  compass  of  human  learning,  must  illus- 
trate this. 

The  findings  of  natural  science  have  all  along  given  ample  confirmation 
to  the  truth  and  Divine  origin  of  these  inspired  records.  Though  the 
direct  object  of  the  Scriptures  is  not  to  teach  science,  yet  neither  is  the 
Bible  unscientific — nor  has  it  been  found  at  variance  with  well-estab- 
lished science  in  any  particular.  The  Scriptures  do  not  even  give  us  a  sys- 
tem of  theology,  nor  aim  to  teach  theology  scientifically,  but  they  give  us 
the  truths  themselves,  which  must  form  the  only  true  system  and  science 
of  theology. 

It  is  an  evidence  of  the  Divine  structure  of  the  Bible,  that  while  its 
records  have  been  assailed  by  every  advance  of  science,  they  have  been  so 
framed  in  scientific  matters  as  to  be  received  in  all  ages,  and,  yet,  as  won- 
derfully adapted  to  the  advance  of  scientific  discovery — giving  no  detailed 
theories,  nor  technical,  scientific  systems,  but  simply  the  ultimate  facts — 
always  true — and  in  such  compact  narrations  as  have  been  found  wonder- 
fully to  inclose  within  themselves  the  kernels  of  the  most  advanced 
science ;  and  though  not  yet  fully  understood,  while  science  was  in  its 
infancy,  yet  adapted  to  the  infancy  of  research,  and  standing  on  record  to 
be  more  fully  opened  to  view  along  with  the  progress  of  investigation — a 
kind  of  prophetic  statement,  indeed,  with  a  cumulative  fulfilment ;  while 
all  along,  there  has  been  a  "  searching  of  what,  or  what  manner  of  time,  the 
Spirit  that  was  in  them  did  signify." 

Geology  points  to  the  recent  creation  of  man,  and  to  the  general  order 
of  creation  as  here  recorded.  The  records  of  geology,  however,  are  very 
much  out  of  reach,  and  only,  in  very  small  part  are  yet  examined.  Where 
they  have,  at  first  view,  appeared  to  contradict  the  Mosaic  accounts,  the 
further  research  has  decidedly  confirmed  the  exact  statements  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  while,  all  along,  the  question  must  occur  whether  the  geological 
record  refers  to  the  same  events  as  the  Scriptural  record  in  question. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxv 

Physiology  decides  in  favor  of  the  unity  of  the  species  as  here  alleged, 
and  the  origin  of  the  human  family  from  a  single  pair. — (See  Notes,  chap, 
ter  i.  27.) 

Comparative  Philology  shows  that  all  the  globe  had  originally  one 
language,  and  there  is  good  ground  for  supposing  that  all  the  different 
tongues  of  the  earth  can  be  reduced  to  one  alphabet,  which  already  Lepsius 
claims  to  have  done. — (See  Bopp,  Lepsius,  Burnouf,  etc.,  and  Commentary, 
chapters  x.  and  xi.) 

So,  also,  Ethnology  testifies  to  the  same  effect. 

It  is  commonly  admitted  that  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis  furnishes  the 
best  outline  of  ethnological  science,  and  is  in  keeping  with  the  latest 
discoveries  in  this  department.  "  Independently  of  the  Scriptural  record 
we  should  fix  upon  the  Plains  of  Shinar  as  a  common  centre,  or  focus,  from 
which  the  various  lines  of  migration,  and  the  several  types  of  races  orig- 
inally radiated." — {Raw.  p.  75.)  The  ancient  heathen  knew  nothing  of  the 
unity  of  the  human  races.  Moses,  therefore,  shows  that  the  source  of  his 
information  was  Divine,  as  he  speaks  so  entirely  in  advance  of  his  age,  and 
speaks  of  things  in  this  department  as  they  could  be  known  only  by 
Divine  revelation. 

Universal  History  attests  these  records.  The  Mosaic  annals  are  found 
to  be  in  striking  agreement  with  the  best  profane  authorities,  so  far  as  pro- 
fane history  can  reach.  For  example,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Egyptian 
customs  and  institutions  is  manifest  in  the  Pentateuch  such  as  would 
belong  to  Moses,  and  such  as  all  the  monuments  have  confirmed.  (See 
Hengsteriberg's  Egypt  and  Moses) 

The  mounds  of  Mesopotamia,  lately  opened,  furnish  records  buried  for 
nearly  three  thousand  years,  which  show  the  existence  of  such  places  as 
were  before  supposed  to  be  only  names,  perhaps  of  imaginary  localities. 
"  Erech,  Accad,  and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar,"  all  unknown  before, 
come  thus  to  light.  "  Calah  and  Resen,  in  the  country  peopled  by  Asshur." 
Ellassar  and  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  are  found  thus  to  have  been  real  and  well 
known  places  of  that  remote  age.  The  confusion  of  tongues  at  Babel, 
and  the  consequent  dispersion  of  mankind  are  facts  confirmed  by  an  in- 
scription discovered  at  Birs  Nimroud,  read  by  Oppert  before  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Literature.  The  threescore  cities  of  Og,  fenced  with  high  walls, 
east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  are  certified  to  by  modern  discovery  of  the  ruins 
of  such  walled  cities.    ^ 

So,  also,  the  researches  in  the  Dead  Sea,  and  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  all 
confirm  these  ancient  Scriptures,  as  being  true  history.  Oftentimes  tho 
very  things  which  sceptics  have  regarded  as  proof  of  ignorance  in  \he 
writer,  have  only  proved  the  ignorance  of  the  objector. 

"  Each  accession  to  our  knowledge  of  the  ancient  times,  whether  historic, 

9, 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

or  geographic,  or  ethnic,  helps  to  remove  difficulties,  and  to  produce  a  per- 
petual supply  of  fresh  illustrations  of  the  Mosaic  narrative." — {Rawlinson, 
pages  76,  77.) 

The  universal  traditions  of  the  Creation  and  Fall,  the  Deluge,  the  Dis- 
persion, etc.,  show  this  to  be  the  great  original  record,  and  all  the  rest  to 
be  derived  from  this  source — this  being  concise,  and  all  others  being  dif- 
fuse, as  legendary  accounts  commonly  are.  It  is  plain  that  the  legends 
which  have  sprung  up  among  various  heathen  nations  are  modifications 
and  perversions  of  this  history. 

It  would  seem  that  God  has  it  in  His  plan,  by  means  of  the  recent  con- 
troversies about  the  Pentateuch,  to  exhibit  the  true  place  of  the  law  in  the 
Divine  record,  and  in  the  Biblical  system  ;  calling  attention  to  its  wonder- 
ful features,  and  its  permanent,  essential  excellence  and  value. 

The  Pentateuch  has  come  down  to  us  in  at  least  four  independent  chan- 
nels. The  Jewish,  Greek,  Syrian,  and  Roman  Churches,  have  each  a  Pen- 
tateuch, differing  from  one  another  only  in  small  particulars,  and  enough 
to  show  that  they  have  been  handed  down  independently,  and  were  all 
substantially  the  same  as  that  known  in  the  time  of  our  Lord. 

Besides  these,  there  is  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  still  more  ancient,  and 
agreeing  with  the  Hebrew — only  in  different  characters,  and  handed  down 
by  a  different  and  hostile  people. 


HEATHEN  TESTIMONIES. 

The  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch  is  referred  to  by  the  historians 
Manetho,  Hecateus,  Lysimachus,  of  Alexandria,  Eupolemus,  Tacitus,  Lon- 
ginus,  Juvenal,  and  others,  among  eminent  heathen  writers.  These  speak 
of  Moses  as  the  author  of  the  Hebrew  code  of  laws,  and  most  of  them 
speak  of  him  as  having  committed  his  laws  to  writing.  These  authors 
cover  a  space  extending  from  the  time  of  Alexander,  when  the  Greeks  first 
became  curious  about  Jewish  history,  until  the  time  of  Aurelian,  when  the 
Jewish  literature  had  been  thoroughly  sifted  by  the  acute  and  learned 
Alexandrians. — (See  Rawlinson,  page  54.) 


TIME. 

Another  and  kindred  line  of  argument  leads  to  the  same  conclusion,  not 
only  that  Moses  was  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch,  but  that  it  was  written 
during  the  forty  years'  sojourn  in  the  wilderness. 

After  the  brief  outline  of  the  origin  of  the  human  race,  which  is  intro- 
ductory, the  early  Jewish  history  is  given  in  these  books  up  to  the  eve  of 
entering  into  Canaan  under  Joshua.     This  was  the  great  Old  Testament. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxvii 

promise  made  to  Abraham  and  his  seed,  which  pointed  forward  to  the 
blessing  of  the  heavenly  Canaan.  The  book,  as  a  whole,  from  Genesis  to 
Deuteronomy,  inclusive,  bears  the  marks  of  having  been  written  during 
the  wilderness  sojourn,  and  prior  to  the  settlement  in  Canaan. 

The  people  are  spoken  of  as  dwelling  in  tents,  and  the  place  of  their 
religious  worship  was  a  tent,  portable,  because  of  their  transition  state, 
travelling  from  Egypt  to  the  Holy  Land.  And  all  the  Levitical  service 
was  given  in  detail  to  suit  such  a  condition  of  emigrants.  The  book  pur- 
ports to  have  been  written  during  their  passage.  It  gives  directions  for 
the  people  as  travellers,  and  as  travelling  worshippers. 

Besides,  the  book,  as  has  already  been  noticed,  details  the  progress  of 
this  Jewish  system,  political  and  religious,  and  was  evidently  written 
during  its  progress.  It  gives  the  occasions  of  these  institutions — how  they 
were  called  for — and  the  unfolding  of  all  the  peculiar  Mosaic  legislation  as 
it  grew  out  of  the  conditions  in  which  the  people  were  placed,  and  the 
objects  had  in  view.  Plainly,  the  law  was  given  for  the  establishment  of 
an  exclusive  religious  system,  aider  which  the  people  were  to  be  trailed 
for  the  promises  of  the  covenant  in  the  Land  of  Promise.  And  all  along 
Moses  speaks  to  them,  charging  them  with  these  great  objects  of  their  dis- 
cipline, and  pointing  them  onward  to  the  results.  Throughout  there  are 
clear  marks  of  an  author  who  is  contemporary  with  the  events,  and  him- 
self a  party  in  the  transactions — and  the  whole  narrative  calls  for  such  an 
one  as  Moses. 

The  familiarity  of  the  writer  with  the  Desert  of  Arabia,  as  well  as  with 
Egypt — his  acquaintance  with  the  geography  of  the  route — names  of  places 
— face  of  the  country — people  scattered  through  the  various  districts,  with 
their  known  peculiarities,  and  the  productions  of  the  respective  regions, 
with  all  the  natural  features,  point  to  such  an  author  as  Moses,  and  show 
by  the  exactness  and  minuteness  of  detail  that  the  writings  belong  to  that 
period.  Besides  this  we  have  the  traces  of  Egyptian  life  throughout  the 
history,  such  as  the  embalming  of  Joseph's  body,  the  taskmasters,  and  we 
have  the  agreement  of  the  history  of  the  plagues  with  the  natural  fea- 
tures of  the  country,  and  the  use  of  Egyptian  terms  such  as  one  like  Moses 
would  naturally  use.  There  is  no  other  one  of  that  age  who  would  answer 
to  these  features  of  the  case.  And  to  suppose  it  was  the  work  of  a  later  age, 
is  to  suppose  a  forgery  of  some  one  who  wished  to  palm  his  work  upon  the 
public  as  that  of  Moses.  But  to  suppose  that  any  one  could  so  have  de- 
ceived the  entire  Jewish  nation,  who  were  so  jealously  careful  about  their 
national  annals,  is  absurd — to  say  nothing  of  the  impossibility  of  Samari- 
tans, Jews,  and  the  Ten  tribes  being  all  so  imposed  upon,  when  they  were 
each  so  jealous  of  the  others. 

One  of  the  most  recent  and  learned  of  German  commentators  shows,  at 
length,  and  most  conclusively,  that  the  Pentateuch  could  not  have  had  its 
origin  in  any  post  Mosaic  time.    He  says : 


xxviii  INTRODUCTION. 

"  It  could  no  more  have  originated  in  the  times  of  the  Judges,  than  the 
New  Testament  could  have  originated  in  the  middle  ages.  That  period,  (of 
the  Judges,)  is  one  of  barbarism — of  the  disintegration  of  Israel  into  sepa- 
rate and  alienated  dans,  and  even  of  manifest  mingling  of  Israelitish  and 
heathen  Canaanitish  customs.  There  were  then  no  considerable  prophets. 
The  priesthood  lay  prostrate,  and  the  last  of  its  incumbents  knew  how  to 
wield  the  sword,  but  not  the  pen.  Samuel,  alone,  at  the  end  of  that  period 
— the  founder  of  the  schools  of  the  prophets,  might  possibly  be  thought  of 
in  connection  with  the  origin  of  the  Pentateuch — but  this  supposition  is 
untenable,  as  appears  from  this  that  Samuel,  so  far  from  adhering  rigidly 
to  the  law  which  he  had  reduced  to  the  documentai-y  form,  is,  on  the  con- 
trary, a  personage  exempting  himself  frciu  the  law  in  troublous  times. 
For  example — he  was  no  priest,  nor  of  the  priestly  tribe,  yet  he  statedly 
offered  sacrifices,  nc  doubt  with  the  Divine  sanction.  The  sacrifices  were 
not  offered  at  the  altar  of  the  tabernacle,  but  at  Mizpeh,  Gilgal,  Bethlehem 
and  Ramah,  the  place  of  his  residence.  The  anointing  of  kings  was  no 
part  of  the  Mosaic  prescription,  and  the  monarchy  itself  was  an  innovation. 

"  The  time  of  Saul  does  not  come  into  the  question,  since  its  only  signifi- 
cance in  the  history  of  Israel's  religion  and  literature  lies  in  its  being  the 
time  of  David's  birth. 

"  The  times  of  David  and  Solomon,  however,  exhibit  so  lively  an  activity 
in  organization  and  literature,  that  the  law  of  Moses  might,  far  sooner, 
have  been  recorded  then  and  set  in  its  historical  framework.  And  many 
glancings  of  the  law  into  the  future  of  that  golden  royal  era  offer  to  that 
hypothesis  some  foundation.  But  over  this  very  period  the  fountains  of 
history  flow  forth  to  us  most  richly,  yet  without  affording  any  where,  even 
in  the  Psalms,  a  ground  for  the  supposition  that  this  Book  of  the  Law  be- 
came then  reduced  to  writing.  And,  moreover,  the  great  deviation  in  the 
structure  of  the  temple  from  that  of  the  Mosaic  tabernacle,  is  on  that 
assumption  hard  to  explain. 

"If  we  descend  to  the  separation  of  Israel  into  two  kingdoms,  the 
hypothesis  that  the  Pentateuch  received  its  first  documentary  form  after 
that  separation,  is  improbable  for  this  reason,  that  in  the  kingdom  of  Israel 
there  never  arose  any  opposition  against  the  force  of  the  law  that  bound 
Israel  in  the  same  manner  as  Judah.  Had  not  the  letter  of  the  law  been 
already  fixed  it  is  not  easy  to  comprehend  how  there  could  have  been  that 
objective  unity  of  the  severed  body,  and  the  common  ground  of  the  pro- 
phetic function,  and  the  conscience  of  Israel  ever  breaking  forth  in  all 
times  of  apostasy,  and  the  ever  uniform  law  of  religious  renovation  in 
Israel,  after  long  secularization. 

"Shall  we,  then,  assume  that  the  Pentateuch  first  originated  in  the 
axile,  or  that  Ezra  wrote  it  as  it  lies  before  us  ?  How  can  it  have  originated 
iu  the  exile,  since  the  people  on  their  return  from  the  exile,  remind  them- 
selves of  the  Law  as  the  Divine  basis  of  their  commonwealth,  long  desti 


INTRODUCTION.  xxix 

tute  of  practical  effect,  but  now  demanding  a  tiue  realization?  (See  the 
whole  strain  of  the  prophets  of  the  Captivity  and  the  Restoration.)  Were 
the  Pentateuch  a  compilation  of  laws  like  the  Codex  Justinianus,  it  might, 
indeed,  be  conceived  of  as  the  work  of  an  exile.  But  it  carries  us  into  the 
midst  of  the  historic  process  of  the  law-giving,  and  is  a  pragmatic  history 
of  it.  And  how  could  such  careful  and  definite  recollections  have  remained 
in  an  oral  and  unrecorded  state  till  that  time  ? 

"  And  as  to  Ezra,  he  is  a  Luther,  who,  in  a  time  when  the  masses  had 
sunk  into  heathenish  barbarism  and  religious  ignorance,  as  a  scribe,  brings 
back  the  written  word  to  honor  and  efficiency.  His  activity  in  reference 
to  national  life  and  literature  is,  throughout,  only  restorative,  for  even  the 
uncertain  tradition  goes  no  further  than  to  ascribe  to  him  the  transfer  of 
the  Scriptures  from  the  Hebrew  to  the  Assyrian  text,  or  the  restoration  of 
lost  books  from  memory.  In  other  words,  history  and  tradition  fully  con- 
cur to  show  that  any  assumption  of  his  authorship  in  the  case  would  bo 
gratuitous  and  baseless.  So  does  the  whole  post-Mosaic  history  of  Israel 
send  us  back  to  the  Sinaitic  law-giving,  and  a  written  record  of  the  same." 
—{Delitsch,  pp.  9, 10.    See  Bib.  Sac.  pp.  51,  52.) 

Kurtz  well  remarks :  "  Not  only  is  the  whole  book  the  basis  and  necessary 
antecedent  of  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people,  its  commonwealth,  religion, 
manners,  and  literature,  but,  also,  the  very  time  in  which  Moses  appeared 
as  the  leader  and  legislator  of  the  people  is  the  very  time  when  the  Penta- 
teuch must  have  been  composed." — (See  Kurtz,  vol.  i.  pp.  56-65.) 

"  Almost  every  marked  period  from  Joshua  down  to  the  return  from  the 
Babylonish  captivity  has  been  fixed  by  different  rationalistic  writers,  as  a 
period  appropriate  to  the  production  of  the  Pentateuch." 

But  supposing  it  to  have  been  written  by  Moses,  as  we  have  already 
shown,  Eusebius  judged  that  it  was  during  his  sojourn  in  Midian,  as  keeper 
of  the  flocks  of  Jethro.  Theodorefs  opinion  is  the  more  probable  one,  that 
it  was  after  the  giving  of  the  Law  at  Sinai,  and  during  the  wilderness 
march,  when  we  know  that  some  of  the  records  were  penned  by  him  ac- 
cording to  the  Divine  command.  Num.  xxxiii.  2 ;  Deut.  i.  5 ;  xvii.  18 ; 
xxviii.  58 ;  xxix.  19,  20,  27 ;  xxxi.  9, 19,  24. 

HISTORICAL  CANONS. 

The  modern  scepticism  claims  that  these  writings  are  "  unhistorical " — 
by  which  is  meant  that  they  are  not  true  in  the  plain  sense  of  the  records. 
It  is  not  pretended  that  the  author,  whoever  they  make  him  to  be,  pro- 
fessed to  write  unhistorically ;  no  such  passage  can  be  produced,  but  all  the 
contrary,  and,  hence,  the  hypothesis  does,  in  effect,  charge  the  author  with 
wilful  deception,  and  makes  the  book  an  imposture.  This  would  set  the 
Bible  even  below  a  common  uninspired  book.  But  this  is  not  alleged  by 
the  objectors. 


xxx  INTRODUCTION. 

There  are  certain  canons  of  historical  criticism  which  are  commonly 
accepted. 

1.  When  the  record  is  that  of  an  eye-witness,  or,  "of  a  contemporary  of 
the  event  who  is  himself  a  credible  witness,  and  had  means  of  observing 
the  fact  to  which  he  testifies,"  the  fact  is  to  be  accepted  as  possessing  the 
first,  or  highest  degree  of  historical  credibility.  "  It  would  most  unque? 
tionably  be  an  argument  of  decisive  weight  in  favor  of  the  credibility  of 
the  Biblical  history,  could  it  be,  indeed,  shown  that  it  was  written  by  eye- 
witnesses."— (Strauss.) 

2.  The  second  degree  of  historical  credibility  is  when  the  narrative  is 
given  at  second  hand,  as  received  directly  from  those  who  witnessed  it. 

3.  The  third  degree  is  that  of  a  narrative  handed  down  from  a  contem 
porary  of  the  event,  where  the  event  itself  is  of  such  great  moment,  and 
of  such  notoriety,  as  to  associate  itself  with  the  life  of  a  nation  ;  or,  other- 
wise such  as  to  be  celebrated  by  any  public  rite  or  practice. 

4.  A  fourth,  and  lowest  degree  of  historical  credibility  is  where  the 
traditions  of  one  race  are  corroborated  by  those  of  another,  especially  if  a 
distant  or  hostile  race — then,  this  double  testimony  gives  a  degree  of  cred- 
ibility, worthy  of  acceptance,  "if  it  be  nothing  very  unlikely  in  itself." 
This  is  a  circumstantial  evidence  which  may  rise  to  the  height  of  strongest 
proof. — (See  Rawlinson's  Hist.  Ed) 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  investigations,  that  Moses  was  such  a 
witness  as  to  give  to  his  writings  the  highest  degree  of  historical  credi- 
bility,, to  say  nothing  of  his  Divine  inspiration. 

When  sceptics  assume  to  lay  down  as  a  rule  that  there  can  be  no  true 
history  into  which  the  supernatural  enters — that  is — that  any  record  which 
relates  a  miracle,  or  a  prophecy  fulfilled,  or  claims  inspiration,  must  be 
" urihistorical"  on  the  ground,  that  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  miracle, 
or  prophecy,  or  inspiration,  they  beg  the  whole  question,  and  under  the 
guise  of  reason  they  deny  what  is  most  reasonable  in  itself,  considering  the 
nature  and  object  of  a  Divine  revelation. 


\X 


HISTORICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


I.  An  inspired  historian  should  be  treated  fairly,  and  we  should  accept 
from  him  what  we  would  accept  from  another  credible  historian,  as  evi- 
dence of  truthfulness.  If  there  seem,  at  first  view,  to  be  discrepancies  in 
different  parts  of  the  record,  then  we  explain  one  part  by  another — we 
canvass  the  nature  and  object  of  the  history — and  the  internal  evidence  of 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxi 

truth — and  before  we  condemn  it  as  false,  we  inquire  for  some  plausible 
motive  which  the  author  could  have  had  to  falsify.  And  hence,  we  adopt 
the  principle  of  Augustine — that,  in  case  of  seeming  discrepancies,  any 
solution  which  presents  a  possible  mode  of  reconciling  the  difficulty  must 
be  accepted,  before  we  can  admit  that  there  is  a  contradiction. 

(a.)  There  may  be  errors  of  the  copyist  in  transcribing  the  original  text. 

(&.)  The  antiquity  of  the  history,  and  the  brevity  of  the  narrative  may 
account  for  some  things  not  understood  by  us. 

(c.)  Idioms  of  the  original  language  may  be  overlooked,  or  misunder 
stood. 

(d.)  Often,  it  is  the  ignorance  of  the  objector,  and  not  his  superior  knowl- 
edge, that  makes  the  seeming  difficulty — as,  a  blunder  in  the  Hebrew,  or 
in  the  history. 

(e.)  It  is,  as  with  the  four  narratives  of  the  Evangelists,  that  if  we  knew 
all  the  minutim,  we  could  harmonize  them  fully. 

(/.)  Objectors  seize  upon  certain  minutiae  which  they  are  unable  to 
solve,  however  unimportant,  and  they  allow  these  to  overthrow  all  the 
array  of  testimony. 

(g.)  The  difficulty  may  be  in  the  translation,  and  not  at  all  in  the  original. 

(h.)  The  spirit  of  contradiction  makes  the  plainest  narrative  "  uriliistor- 
ical"  He  who  will  find  difficulties  in  the  Scripture,  will  always  have  diffi- 
culties to  find.  This  Divine  revelation  is  not  so  given  as  to  compel  belief. 
Men  may  stumble  at  it  if  they  will.  Thus,  it  administers  a  silent,  but 
potent  test  of  a  man's  inward  principle. 

(i.)  The  Scripture  is  given  in  every  variety,  so  as  to  meet  every  reasona- 
ble demand.  In  history,  poetry,  philosophy,  prophecy — in  precept  and 
example — in  discussion  and  illustration — in  travels  and  epistles — in  simple 
patriarchal  narrative,  and  in  pictorial  illumination — we  have  it  in  every 
various  form  and  style,  adapted  to  all  ages  and  people. 

It  is  all  the  word  of  God  in  the  very  words  of  man.  Each  Book  must, 
therefore,  be  read  and  studied,  in  its  relation  to  the  whole  volume,  and 
each  in  the  light  of  its  particular  object,  author,  age,  region,  etc.  In  the 
Book  of  Job,  for  example,  the  truth  is  to  be  elicited  as  the  result  of  a  dis- 
cussion, which  is  there  recorded  touching  a  great  problem  of  the  Divine 
government.    Satan's  words  there  given  are  not  inspired.     It  is  the  narra- 


xxxii  INTRODUCTION. 

tive  that  is  inspired — an  inspired  narrative  of  the  debate.  And  from  this 
true  record  of  the  discussion,  as  the  question  is  argued  on  either  side,  and 
summed  up  by  God  Himself,  must  the  truth  be  carefully  gathered.  Con- 
trary sentiments,  thus  introduced,  are  no  contradiction  of  the  writer,  nor 
any  disproof  of  the  Inspiration  of  the  Book.  So,  in  Ecclesiastes.  If  Satan 
is  introduced  in  the  inspired  narrative,  this  does  not  make  Satan  inspired, 
nor  his  wicked  language. 

(k.)  There  is  special  liability  to  error  in  the  manuscript  copy,  where 
figures  are  given.  As  letters  were  used  for  numbers,  and  as  some  of  the 
letters  so  nearly  resemble  each  other,  they  could  easily  be  mistaken,  one 
for  another,  in  certain  instances.  Some  hold  to  a  special  system  of  inter- 
preting the  numbers  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  number  seven  is  taken 
for  a  sacred  number — and  the  number  twelve  for  the  number  of  completion, 
etc.  So  Hengstenberg  holds  in  interpreting  the  Apocalypse.  It  is  this  de- 
partment of  figures  in  the  Old  Testament  which  has  lately  been  searched 
for  evidences  of  the  urihiatoriccd. 

(I.)  In  treating  the  Pentateuch,  it  may  be  borne  in  mind,  that  it  is  com- 
monly admitted  to  have  been  revised  by  a  later  hand,  as  Ezra,  also  inspired 
— who  added  such  passages,  as  the  record  of  Moses'  death,  at  the  close — 
and,  possibly,  some  other  items,  as  that  of  Moses'  transcendent  meekness, 
etc.  Though  we  see  no  difficulty  in  supposing  Moses  to  have  penned  this 
under  the  guidance  of  Inspiration. 

(m.)  It  may,  also,  be  that  certain  marginal  notes  of  explanation — for  ex- 
ample, of  geographical  sites,  or  names,  or  historical  records  or  events — may 
have  crept  into  the  text.  The  phrase,  " unto  this  day"  may  be  sometimes 
an  addition  by  a  later  hand.  See  Deut.  xi.  30,  and  compare  Josh.  v.  9  ■ 
Deut.  i.  2 ;  iii.  9,  11. 

(n.)  Men  who  enter  on  the  interpretation  of  the  Scripture  as  a  trade,  for 
professional  aggrandizement  or  emolument,  as  many  of  the  Germans  have 
done,  without  reference  to  the  gospel  here  embodied,  and  without  the 
teaching  of  the  spirit,  must  signally  fail. 


THE  SOURCES  OF  THE  HISTORY. 

The  sources  from  which  these  historical  materials  have  been  gathered 
could  have  been  only  either, 

1.  Traditional,  or 

2.  Documentary,  and  uninspired,  or 

3.  Inspired.     Some,  or  all  of  these — that  is,  oial  tradition — uninspired 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxiii 

documents — or,  else  inspiration,  ic-ith  or  without  these,  must  have  furnished 
the  materials. 

Oral  tradition  would  naturally  have  furnished  some  of  the  early  facts 
prior  to  Moses'  time,  and  these  could  have  been  used  under  the  guidance 
of  inspiration.  Such  oral  traditions  could  have  been  by  transmission 
through  few  hands :  e.  g.  The  facts  of  the  Temptation  and  Fall,  Moses 
could  have  received  at  fifth  hand ;  the  facts  of  Abraham's  history,  and 
even  of  the  deluge  at  third  hand.  It  is  admitted  that  the  great  events  of 
a  nation's  history  will  be  remembered  through  five  generations,  or  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  Even  as  histories,  apart  from  Inspiration,  we 
have  as  good  authority  for  these  records  (e.  g.,  of  the  Exodus,)  as  we  have 
for  the  history  of  Cesar  and  Xenophon.  Xeirton  fixes  eighty  or  a  hundred 
years  as  the  extent  of  oral  tradition.  Sir  G.  Lewis  thinks  that  leading 
events  in  a  nation's  history  would  be  remembered  among  them  for  one 
hundred  years — and  special  circumstances  might  extend  the  tradition  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty  or  one  hundred  and  eighty  years. 

But,  it  would  seem  probable  beforehand  that  if  there  were  already  exist- 
ing documents — any  written  records  of  the  earliest  time — an  historian  of 
such  a  remote  period  would  have  made  use  of  them.  This  is  held,  by 
many,  to  give  additional  confirmation  to  the  history. — (So  Vitringa, 
Cabnet,  and  JRaicIinson.) 

I:  should  be  understood,  however,  (1)  that  such  use  of  documents,  is  not, 
in  itself,  inconsistent  with  the  inspiration  of  the  writer,  or  the  writings.  In 
Matthew  and  Luke,  the  genealogies  may  as  well  have  been  inserted  from 
the  genealogical  tables  under  Divine  Inspiration,  as  to  have  been  received 
directly  by  Revelation.     And  so,  in  the  Book  of  Genesis. 

But  what  proof  is  there  of  other  documents  being  used,  and  how  exten- 
sively ? 

It  has  been  doubted  by  some  whether  writings  existed  at  so  early  a 
period.  But  this  can  no  longer  be  questioned — even  if  they  were  senii- 
hieroglyphical ;  writing  must  have  been  known  and  practised,  at  least, 
soon  after  the  flood,  if  not  before  that  event. 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  art  of  writing  was  given  by  God  to 
man,  along  with  language  itself,  as  indispensable  to  social  progress.  We 
know  that  in  Egypt  and  Babylonia  writing  was  in  very  early  use — as  early 
as  the  time  of  Moses,  and  even  dating  twenty-two  centuries  before  Christ. 
The  remains  of  the  Babylonian  writing,  which  are  extant,  show  that  the 
art  had  already  made  considerable  progress.  And  in  Egypt,  the  hiero- 
glyphics of  the  Pyramid  period — sometimes  written  in  the  cursive  style — 
show  that  writing  had  been  long  in  use.  as  JVilkirson  has  remarked.  After 
the  Exodus,  it  would  naturally  find  place  among  the  Hebrews,  even  if  they 
could  be  supposed  to  have  first  learned  it  in  Egypt.     This  is  sufficient  to 


xxxiv  INTRODUCTION. 

remove  the  objection  against  the  knowledge  of  writing  in  Moses'  time, 
"Moses  was  learned  in  all  the  wisdoni  of  the  Egyptians."  (See  Introduc- 
tion to  Stackhouse's  History  of  the  Bible ;  Kitto's  Cyclopedia,  "  Writing •" 
Rawlinson's  Hist.  Ev.     See  Job,  xix.  23,  24 ;  xxxi.  35. 

It  is  alleged  that  Moses  has  made  use  of  several  documents,  or  histor- 
ical fragments,  in  compiling  his  history,  and  that  there  are  traces  of  these. 

I.  In  the  different  headings,  "  These  are  the  generations,"  etc.,  (so  Maw- 
linson,  p.  58.)  But  this  would  not  prove  such  a  source.  Havernick  ably 
contends  that  these  are  only  appropriate  marks  of  transition  from  one  sub- 
ject, or  department,  to  another,  in  the  simplicity  of  that  ancient  style. 
Such  headings  occur  chiefly  in  the  record  of  genealogies — and  of  laics :  both 
of  which  require  such  formal  and  marked  announcement.  The  author 
thus,  also,  gives  an  indication  of  the  plan  and  arrangement  of  what  fol- 
lows, and  connects  paragraphs  thus  with  foregoing  ones. 

II.  The  use  of  different  names  of  God  has  been  thought  to  denote  the 
incorporation  of  different  documents.  In  some  passages  the  title  "  Elohim  " 
is  used — in  others,  "  Jehovah  " — and  in  others  these  are  combined  in  one, 
"  Jekovah-Elohini," — "the  Lord  God," — or,  "Jehovah  God"  It  is  inferred 
by  some  that  these  names  mark  different  documents,  "  Elohistic "  and 
"  Jehovistic."  But  it  would  be  quite  as  necessary  to  suppose  a  third — in 
which  the  joint  title  is  used.  And  some  claim  to  have  found  traces  of  as 
many  as  twelve  and  fourteen  different  documents. 

There  is  evidence  against  all  this.  In  chapter  ii.  4,  to  chapter  iv — where 
the  compound  name  is  used  twenty  times,  the  name  Elohim  is  three  times 
used  alone,  chapter  iii.  1-5.  This  shows  that  there  is  no  proof  here  of 
different  documents.  Nor  is  this  use  of  the  different  names  in  different 
paragraphs,  confined  to  Genesis,  or  the  Pentateuch.  In  Jonah,  iv.  1-4,  the 
title  is  Jehovah.  In  verse  6,  it  is  Jehovdh-Elohim.  In  verses  7,  8,  9,  Elohim 
is  used ;  and  in  verse  10,  it  is  Jehovah  again.  Yet  it  has  not  served  the 
purpose  of  these  theorists  to  insist  that  the  Book  of  Jonah  is  made  up  of 
divers  documents. 

Even  some  who  broached  this  theory,  and  have  maintained  that  the  dif- 
ferent documents  could  be  traced  by  the  use  of  the  names  Jehovah  and 
Elohim,  have  given  it  up  in  despair  of  these  criteria ;  because  the  names  are 
found  so  intermixed  in  some  parts  of  Genesis  as  to  make  the  theory  unten- 
able.    Chapter  xxviii.  16-22  ;  chapter  xxxi.;  chapter  xxxix.,  etc. 

Etcald  has  shown  that  the  principles  proposed  for  separating  the  original 
sources"  of  Genesis  might  be  applied  as  well  to  the  Book  of  Judges  ;  and 
thus  has  proved  the  fallacy  of  such  a  system.  Haver  nick  attributes  this 
attempt  to  the  overlooking  of  the  essential  unity  of  the  Pentateuch,  and 
directing  the  research  to  the  discovery  of  disconnection  and  isolation  in 
the  paragraphs. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxv 

But  the  further  arguments  on  which  this  document  hypothesis  is  rested, 
are  such  as  these : 

1.  That  the  names  and  dates  given  in  chapters  v.,  vi.,  ix.,  x.,  etc,  could 
not  have  been  orally  perpetuated — that  there  must  have  been,  for  Moses' 
information,  brief  records  of  the  earliest  date.  But  Inspiration  provides 
for  this.  And  we  are  not  to  reason  about  the  sources,  as  though  Inspira- 
tion were  not  the  great  sufficient  source — in  all,  and  above  all. 

2.  That  there  are  repetitions,  or  double  narratives,  of  the  same  event. 
But  here,  as  in  the  history  of  the  creation,  (chapter  i.  and  chapter  ii.  7,  and 
verses  18-23,)  there  is  only  an  enlargement  in  the  second  record,  on  some 
point,  leading  to  the  further  history  in  a  given  direction,  (e.  g.)  The  fact 
of  the  creation  of  man  on  the  sixth  day  is  first  given.  Then,  it  is  taken 
up  to  give  further,  the  mode  of  his  creation  as  to  his  higher  nature,  and 
the  habitation  assigned  to  him  with  reference  to  his  trial,  and  destiny. 

The  alleged  repetitions,  as  we  shall  see,  are  not  proved  to  be  such. 
Pharaoh  and  Abimelech  both  acted  in  the  same  selfish  manner  about 
Sarah.  Abraham  may  have  been  twice  guilty  of  the  same  cowardice,  etc. 
Besides,  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  history  was  written  at  different  times, 
end  without  any  regard  to  mere  style,  quite  according  to  the  manners  of 
the  Hebrews. 

We  observe  that  God  Himself  assigns  a  reason  for  the  different  use 
of  His  names — and  explains  the  sense  of  the  name  Jehovah  as  most  impor- 
tantly bearing  on  the  whole  plan  of  His  dealings. 

The  difficulty  here  is  stated  thus — that  in  Exod.  vi.  3,  the  name  is  re- 
ferred to  as  follows :  "  I  appeared  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob, 
by  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  {El  Shaddai ;)  but  by  my  name  Jehotah 
was  I  not  known  (made  known,)  to  them."  Yet,  in  seeming  contradiction 
to  this,  the  name  "  Jehotah  "  is  repeatedly  used  in  the  earlier  parts  of  the 
history,  throughout  the  whole  Book  of  Genesis.  And  not  merely  by  the 
historian,  in  his  narrative,  but  by  the  patriarchs,  and  others  of  earliest 
time,  whom  he  introduces  as  using  the  name ;  as  by  Eve,  chapter  iv.  1 ;  by 
the  sons  of  Seth,  iv.  26  ;  by  Lamech,  v.  29  ;  by  Noah,  ix.  26  ;  by  Sarai,  xvi.  2  ; 
by  Rebekah,  xxvii.  7  ;  by  Leah,  xxix.  35  ;  by  Rachel,  xxx.  24  ;  Laban,  xxiv. 
31  ;  Bethuel,  xxiv.  50,  etc.  Now,  this  is  explained  by  the  theory  that  some 
other  writer  must  have  inserted  these  passages  bearing  the  name  "  Jeho- 
vah,"— whence  they  are  termed  "  Jehovistic," — or,  at  least,  that  the  his- 
torian incorporated  these  separate  documents  which  he  found  written  by 
another  hand. 

Now  this  theory  would  not  account  for  the  plain  fact  that  God  wag 
known  by  the  name  "Jehovah"  in  the  earlier  times — as  already  quoted 
but  seemingly  denied  in  the  passage,  Exodus,  vi.  3.    We  mutt,  therefore, 


xxxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

look  for  another  and  better  explanation.  And  the  meaning,  probably,  is, 
that  God  had  not  distinctly  revealed  Himself  to  the  patriarchs  as  "  Je7io~ 
vah,"  that  is,  as  the  God  of  Redemption.  The  term  Jehovah,  from  the  fu- 
ture form  of  the  substantive  verb  to  be,  does  not  mean  self-existence — eter- 
nal, independent  Being — as  was  formerly  held,  but  rather,  in  this  future 
form,  "  the  coming  One  " — He  who  shall  be—^ as  the  title  was  also  applied  to 
Christ  in  the  Greek,  ('0  epxo/btevoc — Matt.  xi.  3, — THE  comer.)  The  other 
sense  of  "independent  Being  "  is  in  no  such  striking  contrast  with  El  Shad- 
dai.  Now,  thougn  ih:**  name  was  known  in  the  earliest  time,  and  was 
used  as  applied  to  God,  yet  (1)  it  was  not  known  in  its  redemptive  import, 
or,  as  belonging  to  God  as  carrying  on  the  work  of  redemption,  until  the 
secret  was  disclosed  to  Moses  in  the  bush,  and  in  Egypt.  (2.)  It  was  by 
the  name  "  El  Shaddai," — the  Almighty  God — that  the  Angel  of  the  Cove- 
nant had  been  revealed  to  the  patriarchs,  until  this  time,  and  now  He  was 
to  be  revealed  to  them  as  Jehovah.  The  patriarchs  had  not  known  this 
second  Person  of  the  Trinity — this  Angel  of  the  Covenant — by  this  name 
until  it  was  first  revealed  to  Moses  in  the  bush.  In  the  nine  instances  in 
Genesis  in  which  God  Himself  uses  the  title  in  His  communications  to  the 
patriarchs,  it  is  not  once  distinctly  applied  to  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  Gen. 
xv.  7 ;  xvi.  11 ;  xviii.  13,  14 ;  xviii.  17,  19 ;  xix.  13 ;  xxii.  15-17 ;  xxviii.  13. 

There  are  forty  other  instances  in  which  the  title  is  used  in  Genesis  by 
others  than  the  historian  himself,  and  in  no  one  of  these  instances  does  it 
seem  to  be  applied  distinctively  to  the  Covenant  Angel,  but  in  some  instan- 
ces it  is  applied  with  a  hint  of  the  redemptive  idea — as  Genesis,  iv.  1, 
where  Eve  says :  "  /  have  gotten  a  man — Jehovah,  (ar  the  coming  One," — 
yet  not  with  any  distinct  idea  of  its  application  to  the  Covenant  Angel,  who 
visibly  manifested  God  to  the  patriarchs. 

Plainly  then,  it  is  not  without  a  profound  reason  that  this  title  is  thus 
used  in  the  history.  And  the  explanation  given  by  the  Covenant  Angel 
Himself  is  conclusive.  It  was  not  expedient  that  He  should  be  revealed 
to  the  patriarchs,  at  first,  as  the  coming  One.  His  hour  for  such  revelation 
had  not  yet  come.  And  so  He  was  first  revealed  as  an  Angel — afterwards 
as  the  promised  Redeemer.  So  in  the  New  Testament  it  was  first  as  a 
man  that  he  was  revealed,  and  then  as  God  Himself,  the  Redeemer. 

Hengsienberg  understands  that  the  name  "Elohim  "  indicates  a  lower 
consciousness  of  God,  and  "  Jehovah  "  a  higher  stage  of  that  consciousness : 
"Elohim  "  becoming  "Jehovah  "  by  an  historical  process,  and  the  aim  of 
the  sacred  history  being  to  show  how  He  became  so.  Kurtz  considers 
Elohim  as  the  name  belonging  to  the  beginning,  and  Jehovah  as  the  name 
belonging  to  the  development.  Elohim  the  Creator — Jehovah  the  Media- 
tor ;  and  that  Jehovah  is  shewn  to  be  the  same  Being  as  Elohim,  by  the 
use  of  the  double  name,  Jehovah-Elohim. 

More  especially  at  the  beginning  of  the  record,  and  until  the  names  are 
understood,  we  are  to  look  for  some  ground  of  these  different  titles  in  the 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxviS 

connection  in  which  they  are  used.  So,  also,  Psalm,  xix.  i,  "  The  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  (Elohim ;")  and  verse  7,  "  The  law  of  Jehovah 
is  perfect."    See  Notes,  page  95. 

4.  Further.  As  the  Pentateuch  is  not  a  connected  history  of  the  world, 
but  only  of  the  theocracy,  we  might  look  for  some  disconnection  of  the 
records  as  if  fragmentary,  but  only  in  accordance  with  the  special  plan 
of  the  history,  to  give  simply  such  events  and  details  as  would  bear  upon 
the  great  object.  It  will  be  found  that  there  is,  throughout  the  records,  a 
unity  of  plan,  and  consistency,  and  connection  of  historical  details,  show- 
ing the  great  idea  and  aim  to  be  to  set  forth  God's  covenant  relations  with 
His  people. 

Besides  the  document  hypothesis,  some  have  broached  what  is  called  a 
fragment-hypothesis  ;  while  others,  have  started  a  complement  hypothesis, 
and  still  others,  what  is  called  a  crystallization  hypothesis — none  of  which 
is  entitled  to  further  notice  here. 


DESIGN  OF  THE  HISTORY. 

The  Five  Books  of  Moses  are  to  be  regarded  not  as  disconnected  frag- 
ments, but  as  one  work  in  five  volumes,  or  parts,  having  for  its  end  not 
the  history  of  the  world,  but  of  the  theocracy,  with  its  origin,  laws,  and 
institutions ;  serving,  also,  as  national  annals,  for  the  church  and  the 
state.  God — the  people  of  God — the  law  on  Sinai — the  Promised  Land — 
are  closely  connected  ideas  in  the  structure  of  the  history.  Creation  and 
Redemption  are  not  separate,  but  allied  facts.  It  is  the  God  who  created 
the  world  who  is  the  God  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  and  He  has  revealed  Him- 
self in  nature  and  in  grace,  the  same  God.  The  First  Adam  is  a  precursor 
and  figure  of  the  second  Adam.  Noah  and  Abraham  are  heads  of  the  hu- 
man family.  But  the  latter  is  head  of  the  chosen  race — as,  also,  is  Christ 
the  Father  of  the  faithful.  Moses  was  the  Mediator,  and  Lawgiver,  and 
Prophet  of  the  chosen  people,  as  Jesus  Christ,  also,  is  in  a  higher  sense. 
Hence,  the  great  leading  facts  here  narrated  are  elementary  to  the  whole 
system  of  revealed  religion. 

The  object  of  the  Pentateuch  is  to  show  how  God  dealt  with  the  human 
family  in  His  covenant  relations — through  Adam,  Noah,  and  Abraham, 
leading  to  the  separation  of  a  chosen  covenant  people — to  whom  He  gives 
laws  and  institutions,  with  reference  to  their  establishment  in  a  Land  of 
Promise  for  the  best  working  of  that  peculiar  economy — and  all  in  order 
to  the  coming  of  "  the  promised  seed,"  and  the  consummation  of  the 
church  as  "  Abraham's  seed,  the  heirs  according  to  the  promise." 

"  This  is  the  clew  to  all  those  curious  insertions  and  omissions  which 
have  astonished  and  perplexed  mere  historians."    The  five'  great  names 


xxxviii  INTRODUCTION. 

which  mark  the  progress  of  the  history  in  Genesis,  and  around 
which  it  clusters,  are  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  The 
great  corresponding  items  in  the  history  are  the  Creation  and  Fall, 
the  Flood,  the  Covenant,  the  sacrifice  of  the  Covenant  Son,  and  the  bond- 
age in  Egypt.  Adam,  Noah,  and  Abraham  appear  as  three  successive 
heads  of  the  human  family.  The  last  of  these  three,  however,  is  rather 
the  father  of  the  faithful,  and  his  son,  Isaac,  is  the  covenant  son — the  per- 
sonal type  of  the  great  covenant  sacrifice.  There  is  a  Messianic  prophecy 
belonging  to  each  of  the  three  head  persons  and  periods  just  named,  while 
Isaac  is,  himself,  the  Messianic  promise  of  the  covenant  son,  the  New  Tes- 
tament Isaac,  here  "  received  from  the  dead  in  a  figure."  Heb.  xi.  19.  See 
chapter  xii. 

CHRONOLOGY. 

The  chronology  of  the  Old  Testament  has  a  great  importance  in  view 
of  certain  scientific  questions,  much  agitated  among  scholars  of  our  day. 
It  is  founded  very  much  on  the  genealogies,  and  these  are  invested  with 
some  uncertainty.  The  Hebrew  text  gives  the  shortest  chronology — while 
the  Septuagint  and  the  Samaritan  extend  the  periods.  For  example— -from 
the  creation  to  Abrarris  departure  out  of  Haran,  the  Hebrew  gives  2023 
years ;  the  Septuagint  gives  3279  years  ;  the  Samaritan  gives  2324  years. 

The  common  Hebrew  reckoning  dates  the  creation  at  3760  B.  C.  The 
more  commonly  received  computation  is  that  of  Usher,  which  is  4004  B.  C. 
The  chronology  in  the  margin  of  our  English  bibles  cannot  be  said  to  be  a 
matter  of  faith,  so  much  as  of  opinion  ;  and  it  is  open  to  investigation  and 
possible  correction,  at  least,  in  some  of  the  details. 

From  such  data  Moses  is  sometimes  charged  with  blunders  which  do 
not  belong  to  him,  nor  to  the  Inspired  Volume.  The  events  which  he  re- 
cords are  not  always  given  in  chronological  order,  and  from  overlooking 
this  fact  mistakes  have  occurred  among  chronologers. 

The  longer  chronology  advocated  by  Hales  makes  the  creation  5411  B.  C; 
and  that  by  Jackson,  542G  B.  C;  while  some,  as  Bunsen,  have  arrived  at 
fabulous  figures. 

In  the  modern  controversies  on  this  subject  some  would  set  us  quite 
afloat,  by  utterly  discarding  the  received  chronology.  There  is  a  possibil- 
ity that  the  genealogies  prior  to  Abram  have  been  condensed  by  Moses,  as 
Matthew  has  confessedly  condensed  the  genealogy  of  our  Lord.  But  the 
New  Testament  confirms  the  reckoning  which  makes  "  Enoch  the  seventh 
from  Adam,"  (Jude,  vs.  14,)  and  there  would  seem  to  be  little  margin  for 
any  very  important  difference  in  the  results. 

Much  speculation  and  discussion  has  been  ra?sed  by  the  fabulous  figures 
of  the  Egyptian  and  Babylonian  chronology.  But  the  result  of  most  care- 
ful research  is,  that  according  to  the  Egyptian  system,  after  we  have 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxix 

stricken  off  the  dates  of  gods  and  demigods,  Menes,  the  first  Egyptian 
king,  takes  the  throne.  We  have  only  an  excess  of  about  two  thousand 
years  at  utmost  to  account  for,  in  what  is  plainly  the  historical  period. 
In  the  Babylonian  system,  similarly  viewed,  we  find  the  chronology  ex- 
tending to  2458  years  B.  C.  But  in  the  former  case,  Manetho  himself 
reduced  his  list  of  dates  by  one  thousand  five  hundred  years,  which  would 
leave  the  difference  but  a  few  hundred  years  at  most ;  Menes,  the  first 
historic  date,  being  2660  B.  C,  in  the  view  of  some  of  the  most  eminent 
Egyptologists.    (See  Rawlinsorts  Hist.  Ev.) 

Harris  says :  "  The  different  dates  assigned  to  the  period  from  the  Fall 
to  the  Flood,  give  an  extreme  difference  of  1142  years,  (or  between  Peta- 
vius  and  Hales,  1428  years.)"  He  adds,  "  I  adopt  the  chronology  of  the 
Septuagint,  which  is  that  of  Josephus,  as  exhibited  substantially  by  Vos- 
sius,  Jackson,  Hales,  and  Russell.  I  do  this  on  the  evidence  there  is  that 
the  chronology  of  the  Bible  was  corrupted  by  the  Jews  (as  to  the  ages  of 
the  patriarchs  at  the  birth  of  their  eldest  sons,)  in  order  to  vut  tack  the 
dial  of  time  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah — leaving  it  to  be  inferred  that 
the  computation  of  the  Septuagint  is  the  true  transcript  of  the  original 
Hebrew  chronology.  This  reckoning  makes  the  deluge  to  have  occurred 
A.  M.  2256 ;  a  difference  of  600  years  in  this  period,  from  the  commonly 
received  reckoning.    (See  Patriarchy,  page  32,  note.) 

An  eminent  modern  authority,  {Poole,  in  Smith's  Bib.  Diet.,)  contends  for 
the  long  chronology  on  specified  grounds,  and  adopts  1652  B.  C.  as  the 
most  satisfactory  date  of  the  Exodus ;  and  that  of  the  Flood,  as  3099,  or 
3159  B.  C,  and  that  of  the  Creation  as  5361  or  5421  B.  C— the  outside  fig- 
ure being  1,417  years  longer  than  the  commonly  received  date. 

The  difference  between  the  short  reckoning  of  Usher  and  the  longest 
above  named,  (not  speaking  of  Bunsen,  who  arbitrarily  claims  10,000 
years,)  is  found  altogether  prior  to  the  date  of  Solomon's  temple.  Here 
the  extremes  agree  very  nearly.     He  gives  a  tabular  view  : 

Hales. 

Creation 5411  b.  c. 

Flood 3155     " 

Abram's  departure  from  Haran. . . .  2078      " 

Exodus 1648     " 

Solomon's  temple 1027      " 

Hales,  we  see,  would  make  the  Creation  1407  years  older,  and  the  Flood 
807,  and  the  Exodus  167,  older  than  the  received  dates. 

Kalisch  makes  the  Creation  to  date  4160  B.  C,  thus :  "  As  the  departure 
of  the  Hebrews  from  Egypt  took  place  1491  B.  C,  and  the  uninterrupted 
numbers  of  Genesis  place  this  event  in  the  2669th  year  after  the  Creation, 
the  first  year  of  the  Christian  era  is  the  4160th  year  of  the  world,"  (p.  vii., 
viii.)    He  makes  the  sojourn  of  Israel  in  Egypt  to  have  been  430  years, 


Jackson. 

Usher. 

5426  b.  c. 

4004  b.  c. 

3170  " 

2348  " 

2023  "  * 

1921  " 

1593  " 

1491  " 

1014  " 

1012  " 

xl  INTRODUCTION. 

instead  of  215.  R.  8.  Poole  makes  it  215.  The  more  received  modern  reck- 
oning  places  the  Creation  at  4102  B.  C.  According  to  this  scheme  a  very 
convenient  arrangement  for  memorizing,  is  presented : 

I.  The  Antediluvian  Period — from  the  Creation  to  the  Flood,  A.  M.  1656. 

B.  c.  2446. 

II.  Period  of  the  Dispersion — from  the  Flood  to  the  Promise, 

or  Covenant,  430  years A.  M.  2086 

B.  c.  2016 

III.  The  Period  of  the  Patriarchs — from  the  Covenant  to  the 
Exodus,  430  years a.  m.  2516 

b.  c.  1586. 

IV.  The  Period  of  the  Wandering — from  the  Exodus  to  the 
Passage  over  Jordan,  40  years a.m.  2556. 

b.  c.  1546. 

V.  The  Period  of  the  Theocracy.    The  Judges  from  Joshua 

to  Samuel,  450  years A.  M.  3006. 

b.  c.  1096. 

VI.  The  Period  intermediate  from  Samuel  to  David,  as  king, 

40  years a.  m.  3046. 

b.  c.  1056. 

VII.  The  Period  of  the  Monarchy — from  David  to  the  Baby- 
lonish Captivity,  450  years a.  m.  3496. 

b.  c.    606. 

VIII.  The  Period  of  the  Captivity — from  the  conquest  of 

Judea  to  the  close  of  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  206  years,  a.  m.  3702. 

B.  c.    400. 

From  Malachi,  the  last  of  the  prophets,  to  Christ,  400  years. .  A.  m.  4102 

Some  noteworthy  parallels  are  found  in  these  figures.  We  have,  aftei 
the  Flood,  two  periods  of  430  years  each — then  a  minor  period  of  40  years 
— followed  by  two  periods  of  450  years  each,  with  an  interval  of  40  years, 
and  then  the  closing  period  of  400  years.  The  period  of  the  Dispersion 
is  equal  to  the  period  of  the  Patriarchs.  The  period  of  the  Theocracy  i3 
equal  to  the  period  of  the  Monarchy .  And  the  period  of  the  Wandering, 
(between  the  patriarchal  and  the  theocratic  period,)  is  equal  to  the  period 
of  Interregnum — from  Samuel,  of  the  Judges,  to  King  David. 

About  midway  between  the  Creation  and  the  Incarnation 
stands  Abraham B.  c.  2016 

About  midway  between  Abraham  and  Christ  stands  King 
David    B.  c.  1056. 


INTRODUCTION.  xli 


DAYS  OF  CREATION. 

The  question  here,  at  the  threshold,  arises  as  to  the  length  of  the  creative 
days.  (1.)  We  do  not  require  any  longer  period  than  the  twenty-four-hour 
days  on  the  ground  of  any  impossibility  with  God  to  do  the  work  within  this 
shorter  time.  We  can  only  inquire,  how  is  it  revealed  that  God  proceeded  in 
the  creation  ?  (2.)  Neither  can  we  so  interpret  Scripture  by  science  as  to  set 
science  above  the  Scripture.  True  science  and  Scripture  are  the  harmo- 
nious records  of  the  one  only  God,  and  they  throw  light  upon  each  other. 
(3.)  Neither  are  we  to  allow  that  to  be  true  science,  which  is  only  "  science 
falsely  so  called," — full  of  its  "  oppositions," — whose  aim  is  plainly  to  deny 
the  Divinely  inspired  word.  (4.)  Whatever  is  really  science — something 
positively  known — we  can  always  welcome,  as  an  auxiliary  to  our  investi 
gations  of  the  truth ;  for  truth  is  one,  always.  While  we  have  no  right  to 
look  to  the  Scripture  as  the  text-book  of  science,  we  find  that  there  i3 
here  no  contradiction  of  science,  and  that  Scripture  and  science  can  be  ex- 
plained in  harmony. 

(1.)  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  not  nature  which  creates,  but 
God  who  creates  nature.  (2.)  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  work  of 
creation  was  itself  according  to  the  laws  of  nature  as  we  see  them  now  in 
operation.  The  creative  work,  as  it  originated  those  laws,  so  it  must  havo 
been  superior  to  them,  rather  than  subject  to  them.  Nature's  laws,  as  wo 
call  them,  are  simply  God's  ordinary  modes  of  operation.  Creation  was 
His  extraordinary  work,  setting  those  laws  in  their  course.  We  must  be- 
ware of  so  tying  the  creative  power  to  the  processes  of  nature  as,  in  effect, 
to  make  nature  the  Creator — for  this  would  be  to  make  nature  the  creator 
of  herself — to  deify  nature,  and  undeify  God.  (3.)  If  the  creative  work 
was  thus  necessarily  above  nature,  then  we  know  not  how  it  was  carried 
on,  except  as  we  are  here  informed  by  Divine  revelation.  Science  cannot 
inform  us.  It  can  only,  at  most,  confirm  the  sacred  record.  Our  first 
business,  therefore,  is  with  the  simple  text  of  Scripture.  (4.)  On  this 
very  subject  the  New  Testament  speaks,  and  declares  that  here,  in  regard 
to  this  Mosaic  narrative,  is  a  leading  call  for  faith — and  that  only  by  faith 
can  we  understand  it.  It  is  not  that  by  understanding  we  believe, — but 
"  through  faith  we  understand,  that  the  worlds  (atovec — the  historic  ages,  or 
seons  including  time  and  space,)  were  framed,  (or  fitted,)  by  the  word 
of  God — so  that  not  out  of  things  phenomenal,  were  the  things  which  are 
seen  made,"  Heb.  xi.  3. 

Of  this  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  there  are  three  principal  interpretations 
(I.)  That  the  first  verse  is  a  mere  heading,  or  summary  of  the  narrative 
— stating  in  brief  and  general  terms  what  is  detailed  in  the  rest  of  the 
chapter.    Some,  however,  understand  that  verse  1,  records  simply  the  ere- 


xlii  INTRODUCTION. 

ation  of  the  materials  out  of  which  the  heavens  and  earth  were  perfected 
afterwards ;  and  that  this,  along  with  the  creation  of  light  was  the  work 
of  the  first  day — that  the  creation  of  the  material  universe  was  completed 
within  six  natural  days,  and  that  this  was  about  six  thousand  years  ago 

(II.)  A  second  view  is,  that  the  first  verse  relates  the  creation  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies  along  with  our  earth — "  the  heavens  and  the  earth," — far  back 
"in  the  beginning" — that  nothing  is  here  revealed  as  to  the  age  of  our 
globe — that  verse  2,  tells  us  of  a  chaos  in  which  the  earth  was  found  at 
the  beginning  of  the  creative  week — that  between  verses  1  and  2  is  ample 
room  for  all  the  strata  and  fossils  which  geology  discovers,  while  the  record 
here  is  of  the  Almighty  fiats  which  formed  "  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
which  are  now,"  (2  Peter,  iii.  7,)  in  six  successive  day's,  from  morning  to 
evening 

III.  A  third  view  is,  that  the  days  are  periods  of  indefinite  duration. 

IV.  Quite  another  theoiy  is  that  the  narrative  is  poetic.  But  this  is 
plainly  a  shift  for  a  summary  avoidance  of  the  difficulties. 

V.  Still  another  theory  is,  that  the  record  here  is  of  a  vision,  in  which 
Moses  was  given  to  see  a  panorama  of  the  creation — that  it  was  made  to 
pass  before  him  during  six  days,  or,  as  if  it  were  a  six  days'  work,  when  it 
was  not.  But  this  is  positively  contrary  to  the  plain  Scripture — that  "  in 
six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,"  etc. — not  that  He  made  Moses 
see  it  as  if  it  had  been  a  six  days'  work.  This  is  too  visionary  to  notice 
further.  Besides,  the  revelation  of  past  events  by  a  vision  is  without  a 
parallel  in  the  Bible. 

We  cannot  be  held  bound  to  reconcile  the  Mosaic  account  with 
either  one  of  these  theories  at  the  demand  of  science,  since  science,  so 
called,  has  different  theories,  and  is  not,  by  any  means,  decided  upon  either. 
Neither  can  we  tie  the  Scripture  to  our  theories.  We  can  listen  to  the 
teachings  of  true  science,  and  note  what  light,  if  any,  is  thrown  upon  the 
interpretation  of  the  word. 

I.  If  we  adopt  the  first  view  we  must  believe  that  God  created  the  strata 
of  the  earth  with  all  the  fossils  imbedded,  (as  we  find  them  prior  to  the 
appearing  of  man,)  and  that  this  was,  perhaps,  as  "  an  archetype  of  natural 
forms," — and  a  distinct  department  of  creation.  We  can  scarcely  suppose 
that  the  vegetable  and  animal  tribes,  now  found  in  fossils,  existed,  died, 
and  were  embedded  in  the  rocky  formations  within  three  or  four  days  of 
twenty-four  hours.  We  can  understand  that  God  created  man  on  the 
sixth  day,  and  all  the  animal  tribes  in  this  system  to  which  man  belongs 
—full  grown,  and  without  parentage — and  that  the  first  man,  and  all  the 


INTRODUCTION.  xliii 

various  species  of  animals  were  created  as  they  would  have  been  if  they 
had  come  to  maturity  by  the  present  processes  of  infancy  and  growth.  So 
we  can  understand  the  miracle  of  feeding  the  thousands — that  the  bread 
was  created  in  such  state  as  it  would  have  been  if  it  had  been  made  by 
the  ordinary  mode — all  the  loaves  for  the  five  thousand  like  the  five  loaves, 
if  you  please.  And  as  the  creation  here  recorded  is  miraculous,  there  can 
be  no  objection  from  any  impossibility  on  the  part  of  God.  All  the  strata 
and  fossils  imbedded  therein  could  have  been  produced  by  the  Almighty 
fiats,  as  if  they  had  been  ages  in  forming.  Nor  can  it  be  objected,  that 
this  would  have  been  a  deception,  any  more  than  in  case  of  Adam's  crea- 
tion, or  that  of-the  miraculous  bread — nor  any  more,  indeed,  than  it  would 
be  a  deception  to  write  the  word  "  day  "  in  the  narrative,  when  a  period  of 
ages  was  meant.  The  one  is  a  question  of  the  work-record;  the  other  of 
the  word-record.    This  theory  is  possible,  but  not  probable. 

But  there  seem  to  be  sufficient  grounds  for  preferring  the  second  view. 

II.  If  we  hold  this  view  we  must  understand  that  verse  1  reveals  a  cre- 
ation out  of  nothing,  far  back  "  in  the  beginning "  anterior  to  this  six 
days'  work — that  this  latter,  alone,  is  detailed  by  Moses  here ;  and  that 
this  is  a  creation  and  formation  in  reference  to  man,  comprising  a  system 
of  the  vegetable  and  animal  world  belonging  to  man — that  the  old  world 
is  here  noted  as  being  chaos,  with  no  account  of  its  previous  conditions  or 
furniture — that  for  these  we  are  left  to  the  work-record  in  the  strata  and 
fossils  of  the  earth's  foundations.  Accordingly,  we  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  geological  records  in  interpreting  the  Mosaic  narrative. 

This  view  is  not  a  mere  shift  for  avoiding  scientific  difficulties.  It  was 
held  by.  Augiistjpe,  Theodoret,  etc.,  fourteen  centuries  ago,  and  is  now  the 
view  most  commonly  received  among  students  of  the  Word. 

According  to  this  view  we  understand  that  the  natural  day  is  spoken  of 
by  the  historian,  who,  therefore,  defines  and  limits  it,  by  evening  and 
morning.  To  object  that  no  natural  day  as  yet  existed  before  the  fourth 
day,  when  the  sun  was  "  set  (appointed)  far  days,"  (verse  14,)  is  no  objection 
to  the  record — for  sun  and  moon  do  not  make  the  day  or  night,  they  only 
govern  it,  and  mark  it.  The  day  was  known  to  the  historian,  and  he  so 
records  the  facts,  knowing  that  the  record  would  be  so  understood,  namely, 
that  "  there  was  evening,  and  there  was  morning — a  day — even  before  the 
sun's  definite  appointment  in  this  capacity — and  that  it  was  God's  pleasure 
to  divide  the  work  into  that  time  which  should  be  known  as  a  week  of 
days.  Accordingly,  verse  1,  reveals  to  us  an  original  creation  of  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth — the  material  universe — far  back  " in  the  beginning"  of 
which  we  have  here  no  further  account.  Then,  verse  2,  reveals  to  us  the 
earth's  condition  as  chaos,  immediately  prior  to  the  six  days'  work — then, 
(verse  3,)  reveals  the  first  day's  work  in  this  creative  week.  We  may  leave 
geology  to  find  out  what  tribes  of  plants  and  animals  occupied  our  earth 


xliv  INTRODUCTION. 

in  those  distant  ages,  prior  to  this  present  creation.  The  narrative  of  the 
creative  week,  as  here  recorded,  accounts  fully  for  all  species  now  extant, 
but  has  not  revealed  to  us  the  details  of  the  original  creation — whether 
of  the  heavenly  bodies,  or  of  the  fossils  which  are  imbedded  in  the  rocks. 
Accordingly,  we  find  that  the  waters  were  already  existing,  and  the  land, 
before  the  first  day's  work.  They  were  created  "in  the  beginning"  The 
term  "  evening  morning,"  ("ipa  S"}?)  is  used  in  Daniel  to  denote  the  day. 
Dan.  viii.  14. 

The  metaphorical,  or  poetical  use  of  the  word  "  day "  is  not  to  be  ac- 
cepted in  so  plain  a  historical  statement.  A  day,  here,  means  a  day,  else 
we  are  much  misled  by  all  the  phraseology.  "  It  is  philologically  impossi- 
ble," says  the  learned  Hebraist,  Kalisch,  "  to  understand  the  word  '  day '  in 
this  section,  in  any  other  sense  than  as  a  period  of  twenty-four  hours." 

There  are  passages  which  need  here  to  be  considered. 

1.  (Exodus,  xx.  11.)  "For  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth, 
the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day  :  wherefore  the 
Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath  day,  and  hallowed  it." 

It  should  be  noted  that  here,  in  the  Decalogue,  it  is  not  said  that  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth  in  six  days,  but  "  in  six  days  the  Lord 
(Jehovah,)  made  heaven  and  earth."  The  verb  translated  " made"  is,  in 
the  Hebrew,  to  be  distinguished  from  the  verb  created.  The  latter,  as  we 
shall  show,  is  carefully  used  to  introduce  each  new  department  of  the  crea- 
tive work,  while  the  work,  as  a  whole,  detailed  by  Moses  from  verse  2  to 
the  end  of  chapter  I.,  is  rather  the  making,  or  forming  of  the  "  heaven  and 
earth,  the  sea,"  etc.,  as  specially  named  in  verses  8,  and  10,  and  spoken  of  as 
"  the  earth  and  the  heavens,"  (appertaining  to  it,  chapter  ii.  4.  Even  the 
great  reptiles,  (verse  21,)  and  man  himself,  (verse  27,)  in  reference  to  both 
of  which  the  term  to  create  is  used,  were  also  made,  fashioned  by  a 
Divine  fiat,  out  of  material  already  created  "  in  the  beginning."  This  dis- 
tinction throws  light  upon  the  remarkable  phrase  in  chapter  ii.  3, 4,  where, 
referring  to  the  whole  preceding  narrative  of  the  six  days'  work,  both 
words  are  used — "  all  His  work  which  God  created  and  made," — or,  liter- 
ally, created  to  make,  showing  a  distinction  between  what  was  creative  and 
what  was  only  formative. 

2.  Again.  2  Peter,  iii.  8,  referring  directly  to  this  very  question  of  time, 
as  to  the  creation  past,  and  to  the  consummation  future — charges  us  :  "  Be- 
loved, be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing  that  '  one  day,'  (Gen.  i.  5,)  is  with 
the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years ;"  not  that  a  day  with  God  is  a  thousand 
years,  or,  was  so  in  the  creation,  but  that  one  day  is,  to  Him,  as  a  thou- 
sand years — serves  Him  as  if  it  were  a  thousand  years — and  that  this  is  of 
utmost  importance  to  be  known  and  considered  in  interpreting  the  record 
of  cieation.    And  so  in  history,  while  men  wonder  at  the  slow  progress  of 


INTRODUCTION.  xlv 

things,  "  a  thousand  years  are  to  Him  as  one  day,"  and  the  question  of 
time  is,  therefore,  no  limitation,  or  restriction,  of  God's  works  and  ways. 
So  Psalm,  xc.  4,  in  the  same  connection  with  the  creation. 

3.  In  chapter  ii.  3,  the  phrase  is  omitted,  "the  evening  and  the  morning 
loere  the  seventh  day."  It  is  argued,  hence,  that  the  seventh  day  was  not 
finished,  and  is  yet  going  on.  But  (1.)  is  it  not  necessary  for  the  argument  in 
the  Decalogue  to  suppose  that  He  rested  throughout  the  seventh  day,  not 
merely  that  He  then  began  to  rest — nor  that  He  rested  at  the  dawn  of  the 
day,  and  thus  far  to  the  present  date,  since  that  would  not  be  an  argument 
for  our  resting  throughout  the  Sabbath  day  as  is  plainly  intended.  (2.)  If 
the  seventh  day  be  yet  unfinished,  how  can  we  arrive  at  the  length  of  tho 
days  from  this  day,  of  which  some  six  thousand  years  have  already  passed  ? 
Can  it  be  a  day  of  millions  of  ages,  as  is  claimed,  for  the  other  days  ?  How 
can  it  even  be  said  that  God  rested  the  seventh  day — as  it  is  not  yet  an 
accomplished  fact — the  day  not  yet  being  finished  by  this  hypothesis. 

4.  The  commandment  gives  the  clear  impression  that  the  days  of  the 
creative  week  were  like  our  days — that  it  was  in  six  days  like  ours — that 
God  made  heaven  and  earth,  (" the  heavens  and  the  earth  Which  are  now" 
2  Peter,  iii.  7,)  and  that  He  rested  on  the  seventh  day,  and  made  a  Sabbath 
of  it  by  His  so  hallowing  it  in  His  rest ;  and  that  this  day  of  God  was  the 
natural  day  which  we  understand  when  we  speak  of  the  Sabbath  day. 

It  is  argued  that  it  is  only  the  proportion  of  one  in  seven,  or  a  seventh 
portion  of  time  which  is  to  be  understood  as  hallowed,  and  claimed  as  Sab- 
batic by  the  Divine  example.  But,  in  order  to  this,  it  would  need  to 
be  proved  that  the  seventh  day,  which  such  suppose  to  be  not  yet  finished, 
and  of  unknown  duration,  is  equal  to  each  of  the  other  days,  and  one-sev- 
enth of  the  whole  creative  week.  But  this  equality  of  the  days  is  by  no 
means  provided  for,  according  to  the  geological  theory.  And  unless  we 
have  greatly  miscalculated  the  period  yet  remaining  to  the  end  of  time, 
there  will  not  be  found  any  such  duration  of  the  seventh  day,  (even  sup- 
posing it  to  be  yet  unfinished,)  as  will  answer  the  demands  of  the  geolog- 
ical school,  who  talk  of  ages  upon  ages  for  each  day  of  the  creation. 

5.  So,  also,  Hebrews,  iv.  4 :  "  For  He  spake  of  the  seventh  day  on  this 
wise,  And  God  rested  the  seventh  day  from  all  His  works."  This  seventh 
day  rest  is  here  referred  to  as  an  act  accomplished,  and  a  definite  period  past. 
And  the  argument  is  that  "  the  rest  of  God,"  here  spoken  of  in  the  He- 
brews, is  something  more  than  that  mere  seventh  day  rest  of  His — only 
foreshadowed  by  that — that  it  is  something  yet  to  be  experienced  by  be- 
lievers— a  glorious  future  of  rest  with  God.  So  the  Apostle  argues.  Wo 
find  Him  swearing  in  His  wrath  to  the  Israelites:  "If  they  shall  enter 
into  my  rest — although  the  works  were  finished  from  the  foundation  of 


xlvi  INTRODUCTION. 

the  world," — and  although  the  seventh  day  rest  is  long  since  past.  So  Jesus 
said,  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto"  (John,  v.  17,) — up  to  this  time — active 
in  all  the  universe — creating  and  upholding  it,  and  preserving  and  govern- 
ing all  His  creatures,  and  all  their  actions.     (See  John,  xiv.  10.) 

6.  The  theory  of  indefinite  periods  is  used  to  do  away  with  the  fiat  prin- 
ciple, and  resolves  the  creation  into  a  development  through  secondary 
causes.  But,  plainly,  the  Scripture  teaches  that  the  work  of  creation  was 
not  by  natural  agencies,  but  by  preternatural  acts — not  by  processes  and 
operations,  but  by  "  the  word  of  God," — not  by  nature's  laws,  but  intro- 
ducing nature's  laws.  "  He  spake,  and  it  was  done  ;  He  commanded,  and 
it  stood  fast."  The  record  of  the  first  day's  work  is  simply,  "God  said, 
Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light."  Could  this  be  meant  to  convey 
to  us  the  impression  that  instead  of  any  fiat  of  the  Almighty,  on  the  first 
day,  there  was  a  gradual  coming  forth  of  light,  through  secondary  causes, 
during  millions  of  years  ?  "  God  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of 
darkness,"  (2  Cor.  iv.  6.)  This  error  is  especially  aimed  at,  and  guarded 
against  by  Peter,  though  the  theory  claims  to  be  so  scientific,  "  For  this 
they  willingly  are  ignorant  of,  that  by  the  word  of  God  the  heavens  were 
of  old,  and  the  earth  standing  (consisting,  or  subsisting,)  out  of  (the)  wa- 
ter and  in  (through,  between,  by  means  of,)  {the)  water,  (above  and  be- 
neath :)  Whereby,  (or  by  means  of  which  waters,  above  and  beneath)  the 
world  (the  kosmos)  that  then  was,  perished.  But  the  Heavens  and  the 
Earth  which  are  now,  by  the  same  word  are  kept  in  store,"  etc.  This 
perishing  of  the  old  world,  (or  kosmos,  including  the  old  heavens  and 
earth,  as  distinct  from  those  now,)  by  means  of  waters,  may  refer  to  the 
destruction  of  our  planet  which  left  it  chaos,  covered  with  the  deep,  or 
abyss,  of  waters,  and  even  more  strikingly  than  to  the  destruction  at  the 
Deluge.  This  passage  brings  strongly  to  view  the  essential  point  that  the 
creation  was  on  "  the  fiat  principle," — "by  the  word  of  God," — and  then 
we  see  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  which  are  now,  await  a  destruction  by 
fire,  like  that  original  destruction  by  water ;  to  be  followed  by  a  new  heav- 
ens and  a  new  earth,  (Isa.  lxv.,  Rev.  xxi.)  The  geologists  who  hold  to  a 
partial  deluge,  will  surely  not  contend  that  it  is  a  deluge  of  only  a  part 
of  the  earth  by  fire  that  is  revealed  by  Peter.    (2  Peter,  iii.  5-8.) 

7.  A  crowning  passage,  (Heb.  xi.  3,)  sets  forth  the  special  call  for  faith 
in  this  very  matter  of  the  Mosaic  record.  As  if  referring  to  the  natural 
tendency  to  exalt  reason  above  faith,  and  science  above  the  Scripture  in 
this  department,  the  apostle  notes,  first  of  all,  this  sphere  of  faith  as  that 
in  which  we  lead  the  procession  of  patriarchs  and  heroes  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. "Through  Faith  we  understand — perceive,  (he  says  not 
through  understanding  we  believe,) — that  the  worlds,  (the  aeons,  the  historic 
ages,  including  time  and  space,)  were  framed,  (fitted,  adjusted,)  by  the  word 


INTRODUCTION.  xlvii 

of  Qjd,  so  that  the  things  which  are  seen,  were  made,  not  out  of  things  phe- 
nomenal" The  call  is  for  faith.  The  doctrine  is  that  this  is  a  sphere  for 
heroic  faith,  rather  than  for  science  and  reason.  The  question  is  of 
"  aeons,"  and  it  is  here  revealed  that  the  030ns  were  fitted,  prepared  by  the 
word  of  God.  The  question  is  of  ''phenomena,"  and  the  teaching  is,  that 
the  creation  was  not  out  of  things  phenomenal — not  out  of  phenomena. 

As  to  the  records  of  the  strata,  Huxley  admits  that  "  supposing  even 
the  whole  surface  of  the  earth  had  been  accessible  to  the  geologist,  and 
man  had  had  access  to  every  part  of  the  earth,  and  had  made  sections  of 
the  whole,  and  put  them  all  together,  even  then  his  record  must  of  neces- 
sity be  imperfect." — (Origin  of  Species,  page  37.) 

And  he  adds :  "  It  is  only  about  the  ten  thousandth  part  of  the  accessible 
portions  of  the  earth  that  has  been  examined  properly,  and  three-fifths  of 
the  surface  is  shut  out  from  us  because  it  is  under  the  sea."     (Page  38.) 

(III.)  It  is  claimed  that  science  has  positively  decided  in  favor  of  the  days 
of  indefinite  periods ;  and  that  no  other  interpretation  is  consistent  with 
scholarly  views,  or  abreast  of  the  time.  But  geological  science  is  less  and 
less  satisfied  with  this  concession.  The  order  of  the  creation,  as  here  given, 
is  disputed — and  the  long  periods  are  used  to  favor  a  notion  of  pre-Adamic 
man,  and  a  theory  of  development  that  would  push  the  creative  fiat  far 
back  out  of  view,  and  enthrone  impersonal  nature  in  the  place  of  the  per- 
sonal God.  "  No  attempt  which  has  yet  been  made  to  identify  these  six 
periods  of  the  Mosaic  days  with  corresponding  geological  epochs  can  be 
pronounced  satisfactory." — (Smith's  Bib.  Dictionary.) 

Some  would  place  the  whole  of  the  primary,  secondary  and  tertiary  for- 
mations, with  their  flora  and  fauna,  within  the  first  two  days,  instead  of 
"in  the  beginning."  So  Dr.  McCaul,  and  he  adds :  " The  impossibility  of 
identifying  the  six  days  of  the  Mosaic  record  with  the  periods  of  Geology, 
is  evident  from  the  fact  that  of  the  work  of  two  days  in  the  Mosaic  account, 
Geology  knows  nothing,  and  Astronomy  nothing  certain — namely,  that  of 
the  first  day  and  the  fourth  day."  Indeed,  to  those  who  have  no  theory  to 
establish,  it  is  apparent  that  they  (the  Mosaic  days  and  the  geologic  periods,) 
— do  not  agree,  neither  is  it  necessary  that  they  should. — (Aids  to  Faith, 
p.  250.) 

Geology  speaks  doubtfully  as  to  the  precedence  of  animals  or  vegetables, 
in  the  order  of  creation.  Nearly  all  eminent  geologists  admit  that  there 
have  been  successive  creations  corresponding  with  successive  conditions  of 
the  earth :  creatures  having,  all  along,  been  created,  such  as  could  live 
and  enjoy  life  upon  its  surface.  There  have  been  found  the  plainest  marks 
of  these  destructive  catastrophes,  and  of  the  reappearance  of  living  organ- 


xlviii  INTRODUCTION. 

isms  in  multitudes  after  such  destruction,  and  ah  caused  by  the  successive 
throwing  up  of  earth's  various  mountain  chains. 

Geological  phenomena,  so  far  as  they  depend  on  mechanical  agencies, 
require  for  their  manifestation  and  accomplishment,  both  force  and  time. 
They  depend  on  the  combined  effect  of  both.  If  a  large  effect  is  to  be  ac- 
counted for,  the  time  may  be  supposed  to  be  short,  if  the  force  be  great. 
The  gigantic  and  rapid  operations  of  nature,  in  the  older  geological  periods, 
are  to  be  taken  into  account,  as  in  the  more  recent  periods,  the  force 
of  glacial  agencies,  lately  discovered,  amply  illustrates.  The  idea  of  a 
uniform  action  and  operation  of  natural  causes  from  the  beginning,  must 
clearly  be  abandoned.  The  elements,  therefore,  of  this  wonderful  problem 
are  time  and  force — the  former  to  be  reckoned  according  to  the  unknown, 
but  mighty  workings  of  the  latter.  Time,  even  millions  of  years,  could 
not  have  excavated  the  valleys  through  which  certain  rivers  flow — accord- 
ing to  the  present  operation. — (See  Whewell,  and  Edinb.  Rev.,  July,  1863.) 

The  choice  of  difficulties  between  the  second  and  third  views  is  thus 
stated  by  Prof.  Dana,  most  favorably  for  the  geological  interpretation  : 
"  Accepting  the  account  in  Genesis  as  true,  the  seeming  discrepancies  be- 
tween it  and  geology  rest  mainly  here.  Geology  holds,  and  has  held  from 
the  first,  that  the  progress  of  creation  was  mainly  through  secondary 
causes,  for  the  existence  of  the  science  presupposes  this.  Moses,  on  the 
contrary,  was  thought  to  sustain  the  idea  of  a  simple  fiat  for  each  step. 
Grant  this  first  point  to  science,  and  what  further  conflict  is  there  ?  The 
question  of  the  length  of  time,  it  is  replied.  But  not  so.  For  if  we  may 
take  the  record  as  allowing  more  than  six  days  of  twenty-four  hours,  the 
Bible  then  places  no  limit  to  (the)  time.  The  question  of  the  days  and 
'periods,  it  is  replied  again.  But  this  is  of  little  moment  in  comparison  with 
the  first  principle  granted.  Those  who  admit  the  length  of  time,  and 
stand  upon  days  of  twenty-four  hours,  have  to  place  geological  time  before 
the  six  days,  and  then  assume  a  chaos  and  reordering  of  creation  on  the 
six  day  and  fiat  principle,  after  a  previous  creation  that  had  operated  for  a 
long  period  through  secondary  causes.  Others  take  days  as  periods,  and 
thus  allow  the  required  time,  admitting  that  creation  was  one,  in  progress, 
a  grand  whole — instead  of  a  first  creation  excepting  man  by  one  method — 
and  a  second,  with  man  by  the  other.  This  is  now  the  remaining  question 
between  the  theologians  and  geologists — for  all  the  minor  points,  as  to  the 
exact  interpretation  of  each  day,  do  not  affect  the  general  accordance  or 
discordance  of  the  Bible  and  science." — {Bib.  Repos.,  1856.) 

In  answer  to  this  statement  of  Prof.  Dana  we  would  say  : 

1.  That  "  the  fiat  principle  "  is  precisely  that  which  cannot  be  given  up 
for  any  principle  of  "  sec  ondary  causes."    The  Scripture  is,  everywhere, 


INTRODUCTION.  slix 

most  explicit  in  declaring  that  "  by  the  word  of  Jehovah  the  heavens  were 
made,"  etc.     "  By  the  word  of  God  the  heavens  were  of  old,"  etc. 

2.  This  same  is  true,  also,  of  the  original  creation,  "  in  the  beginning ;" 
and  we  need  not  suppose,  according  to  our  theory,  that  it  "operated 
through  secondary  causes,"  any  more  than  the  present  creation — the  crea- 
tion, in  either  case,  having  originated  those  laws,  by  which  all  physical 
agencies  proceeded — according  to  the  constitution  and  course  of  nature. 
Hugh  Miller  has  plainly  shown  that  every  different  kind  of  existence,  ani- 
mate or  inanimate,  must  be  the  result  of  a  direct  fiat  of  the  Creator — and 
that  "  nothing  higher  can  possibly  be  produced  by  anything  lower  in  kind." 
—{Test,  of  the  Bocks.) 

Kurtz  argues  against  the  geological  interpretation  as  follows : 

1.  "  It  is  evident  that  Scripture  describes  the  creative  days  as  natural 
and  ordinary  days,  (having  morning  and  evening,  light  and  darkness,) 
while  in  order  to  identify  the  geological  with  the  Biblical  creation  it  is 
necessary  to  represent  them  as  periods  of  '  Divine  duration,'  each  compris- 
ing thousands,  nay,  perhaps,  '  millions  of  terrestrial  years.' 

2.  "  It  is  evident  that  we  read  only  of  one  general  inundation  within  the 
six  creative  days,  (Gen.  i.  2-10,)  to  which,  on  the  third  day,  bounds  were 
assigned  which  were  not  to  be  passed  till  the  flood.  But  the  above  theory 
requires  that  we  should  suppose  a  number  of  inundations  to  have  taken 
place  in  order  to  account  for  the  numerous  secondary  and  tertiary  stratifi- 
cations which  are  thought  to  have  occurred  during  the  fifth  and  sixth  days. 

3.  "  Scripture  plainly  states  that  the  mountains  of  the  earth  existed,  at 
any  rate,  on  the  third  day.  But  this  theory  requires  us  to  believe  that 
the  secondary  and  tertiary,  if  not  the  primaiy  strata  and  rocks,  had  beeu 
farmed  on  the  fifth  and  sixth  days. 

4.  "  Scripture  plainly  teaches  that  plants  only,  and  not  animals  of  any 
kind,  were  created  on  the  third  day,  and  animals  only,  but  not  trees  and 
plants,  on  the  fifth  and  sixth  days.  But,  according  to  this  theory,  these 
Biblical  are  the  same  as  the  Geological  periods  of  which  each  has  both  its 
plants  and  animals. 

5.  "  It  is  evident  that  the  six  days'  narrative  here  only  speaks  of  three 
periods  of  organic  creation,  while  Geology  recounts  as  many  as  there  are 
stratifications.  Yet  the  above  theory  identifies  the  Biblical  with  the  Geo- 
logical creation. 

6.  "  Lastly,  it  is  plain  on  the  one  hand  that  the  flora  and  fauna  of  the 
primeval  world  had  perished  before  man  appeared — and  hence,  could  not 

VOL.  I.  3 


1  INTRODUCTION. 

have  been  destined  to  continue  along  with  man  on  the  earth— and,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  according  to  the  clear  and  unequivocal  statements  of 
Scripture,  the  flora  and  fauna  created  during  the  six  days  were  created  for 
man,  and  destined  to  con!  inue  on  earth  along  with  him.  Yet  the  above 
theory  confounds  these  two  kinds  of  flora  and  fauna." — {Introduction  to 
Kurtz's  History  of  the  Old  Covenant) 

And  the  literal  view  exalts  our  estimate  of  the  week  and  of  the  Sabbath, 
that  God  actually  made  the  present  heavens  and  earth  in  six  days,  and 
actually  rested  on  the  seventh  day  ;  and  blessed  and  hallowed  the  Sabbath 
day  for  us — not  by  any  fiction,  nor  according  to  any  forced  construction, 
but  as  a  bona  fide  pattern  for  us,  and  as  the  foundation  of  the  statute  in  the 
Decalogue  for  a  permanent  obligation  as  long  as  weeks  and  days  shall  last. 

Nor,  does  this  at  all  interfere  with  our  exalted  estimate  of  the  immense 
Geological  ages  preceding,  (as  indicated  by  the  rocks,)  which,  as  we  have 
suggested,  may  have  really  belonged  to  six  immense  periods — and  of 
which  this  six  days'  work  is  but  an  after  hint — introducing  the  human 
period.  The  development,  here,  is  not  of  one  animal  species  from 
another,  but  it  is  a  gradual  unfolding  and  development  of  creation, 
according  to  God's  plan  of  progression,  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  forms 
and  orders,  culminating  in  man. 

To  this  view  it  is  objected  that  Geology  shows  no  such  break  in  the  con- 
tinuous chain  of  organic  life  as  this  chaotic  period  would  require,  but  that 
all  the  different  tribes  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  world  have  been  grad- 
ually introduced  in  one  unbroken  succession,  connecting  the  present  with 
the  pre-Adamic  periods.  But  in  answer  to  this  objection  it  is  declared  to  be 
well  established  that  the  tertiary  period  was  closed  by  such  a  catastrophe 
as  this  record  calls  for  in  verse  2.  Archdeacon  Pratt  qiiotes  to  this  effect 
from  the  Paleontology  of  M.  d'  Orbigny — that  "  between  the  termination 
of  the  tertiary  period  and  the  beginning  of  the  recent,  or  human  period, 
there  is  a  complete  break."  Other  such  breaks  answering  to  other  chaotic 
periods  are  indicated — followed,  as  Prof.  Huxley  admits,  by  "  the  seemingly 
sudden  appearance  of  new  genera  and  species."  But  these  he  attempts  to 
account  for  by  migration.  Yet,  these  new  organisms  are  plainly  of  ad- 
vanced creatures — showing  a  progress  in  the  order  of  creation,  and  thus 
proving  new  creations  to  supply  the  place  of  those  destroyed  by  these  con- 
vulsions of  the  chaotic  periods. 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  how  this  theory,  which  supposes  death  to  have 
been  at  work  among  the  animal  tribes  prior  to  the  fall  of  man,  consists 
with  the  Scriptural  account  of  the  introduction  of  death  by  the  fall  ? 

But  it  will  be  observed.  1.  That  the  curse  denounced  death  upon  MAN 
as  the  consequence  of  the  Fall.    "  Thou  shalt  surely  die." 

2.  The  passages  referring  to  the  introduction  of  death  have  reference  to 


INTRODUCTION.  y 

human  death.  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by 
sin  ;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned,"  Romans, 
v.  12.  "  For  since  by  man  came  death,  by  man  came  also  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,"— where  the  resurrection  shows  that  man,  and  not  the  lower 
tribes,  are  referred  to.  "  As  in  Adam  all  die,  etc.  But  every  man  in  his 
own  order,"  (1  Cor.  xv.  21.) 

3.  May  not  Adam  have  known  something  of  death  among  the  lower 
animals  before  the  Fall,  in  order  to  understand  something  of  death  as 
denounced  against  transgression?  Besides,  the  anatomical  structure  of 
carnivorous  animals  shows  that  they  must  always  have  lived  on  flesh. 

4.  Some  suppose  that  death  existing  before  the  human  period  was  a  con- 
sequence of  the  fall  of  the  angels— Satan  being  "the  prince  of  this  world." 

5.  Others  suppose  that  God  gave  the  world  its  present  constitution,  and 
subjected  the  animal  tribes  to  death  in  the  certainty  of  man's  apostasy— 
that  death  must  constitute  a  feature  of  the  system  of  the  world,  because  a 
free  agent  would  certainly  introduce  sin.  Hence,  that  all  creatures  would, 
of  needs,  be  made  mortal,  at  whatever  period  created.    (See  Hitchcock.) 

The  myriads  of  shells,  and  skeletons  of  insects  and  animals  which  com- 
pose the  tripoli  rock,  and  the  coral  reefs,  show  plainly  that  death  must 
have  existed  for  ages  prior  to  the  present,  or  human  period.  The  ox 
could  scarcely  graze,  nor  the  bird  live,  without  destroying  the  life  of  infe- 
rior beings. 

It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  death  passed  upon  mankind  as  the 
penalty  of  sin— death  in  the  higher,  spiritual  sense,  as  involving  physical 
death.     See  chapter  ii.  17. 

Some  hold,  however,  very  plausibly,  that  physical  death  belonged  to 
man's  constitution  as  an  animal,  and  that  the  curse  denounced  was  the 
higher,  spiritual  death— the  death  of  the  soul,  in  addition  to  the  natural 
death  of  the  body.  This  would  account  for  the  preexistence  of  physical 
death  in  the  world,  and  for  the  fact  that  physical  death  was  not  seen  to 
follow  immediately  upon  the  first  transgression.    But  see  Rom.  v.  14. 

Br.  McCaul  in  his  essay  on  the  Mosaic  record  of  creation  thus  notices 
the  agreement  of  science  with  the  Sacred  narrative  : 

(1.)  "  Moses  relates  how  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth  at  an 
indefinite  period  past,  before  the  earth  was  the  habitation  of  man.  Geol- 
ogy has  lately  discovered  the  existence  of  a  long  prehuman  period. 

(2.)  "A  comparison  with  other  Scripture  shows  that  the 'heavens'  of 
Moses  include  the  abode  of  angels,  and  the  place  of  the  fixed  stars,  which 
existed  before  the  earth.  Astronomy  points  out  remote  worlds,  whose 
light  began  its  journey  long  before  the  existence  of  man. 


lii  INTRODUCTION. 

(3.)  "  Moses  declares  that  the  earth  was  (or  became,)  covered  with  water, 
and  was  desolate  and  empty.  Geology  has  found,  by  investigation,  that 
the  primitive  globe  was  covered  with  an  uniform  ocean,  and  that  there 
was  a  long  azoic  period,  during  which  neither  animal  nor  man  could  live. 

(4.)  "  Moses  states  that  there  was  a  time  when  the  earth  was  not  depend- 
ent upon  the  sun  for  light  and  heat,  when,  therefore,  there  could  be  no 
climatic  difference.  Geology  has  lately  verified  this  statement  by  finding 
tropical  plants  and  animals  scattered  over  all  parts  of  the  earth. 

(5.)  "  Moses  affirms  that  the  sun,  as  well  as  the  moon,  is  only  a  light- 
holder.  Astronomy  declares  that  the  sun  itself  is  a  non-luminous  body, 
dependent  for  its  light  on  a  luminous  atmosphere. 

(6.)  "  Moses  asserts  that  the  earth  existed  before  the  sun  was  given  as  a 
luminary.  Modern  science  proposes  a  theory  which  explains  how  this  was 
possible. 

(7.)  "  Moses  asserts  that  there  is  an  expanse  extending  from  earth  to 
distant  heights,  in  which  the  heavenly  bodies  are  placed.  Recent  discov- 
eries lead  to  the  supposition  of  some  subtle  fluid  medium  in  which  they 
move. 

(8.)  "  Moses  describes  the  process  of  creation  as  gradual,  and  mentions 
the  order  in  which  living  things  appeared — plants,  fishes,  fowls,  land-ani- 
mals, man.  By  the  study  of  nature  Geology  has  arrived  independently  at 
the  same  general  conclusion." — (Aid*  to  Faith,  pp.  268-9.) 


ANALYSIS. 

Kalisch,  in  Ms  recent  commentary,  divides  the  Book  of  Genesis  into  twj 
parts : 

I.  The  General  Introduction,  chapters  i.  to  xi. — to  Abraham. 

II.  The  History  of  the  Hebrew  Patriarchs,  chapters  xii.  to  1. 

But  it  is  the  Covenant  with  Abraham  which,  properly,  forms  the  turning 
point  of  the  history :  and  we  prefer,  therefore,  to  make  the  first  division  ex- 
tend to  that  event,  and  include  the  sealing  of  the  covenant — chapter  xvii. 

Book  I.  Creation  to  the  Covenant  with  Abraham  sealed— chapters  i.  to  xv. 

Book  II.  Patriarchal  History  of  the  Covenant — chapters  xviii.  to  1. 

The  two  salient  points  in  the  history  of  Redemption  are  the  Covenant 
with  Abraham  and  the  Advent  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Mediator  of  the  New 
Covenant.  It  is  the  same  Covenant  of  Grace  under  both  Economies.  And 
the  Abrahamic  Covenant  is  that  household  pledge,  which  points  steadily 
forward  to  the  Gospel  Church — the  New  Testament  household  of  be- 
lievers and  their  children,  in  which  Christ  is  the  Elder  Brother,  and  we 
have  our  sonship  by  virtue  of  His,  as  Himself  the  Head  of  the  body,  and 
the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  leading  many  sons  unto  glory,  (Heb.  ii.  10.) 


SYNOPSIS   OF    THE   HISTORY 


BOOK  I. 

FROM  THE  CREATION  TO  THE  COVENANT  WITH  ABRAHAM. 

Part  I.     The  Creation  and  Fall  of  Man  to  the  First  Promise  of 

the  Messiah. 

A. 

§  1.     The  Original  Creation,  Heavens  and  Earth.           .        .  Ch.  1:1. 

§  la   The  Chaos  and  Transition  to  the  Creative  Week.          .  Ch.  1  :  2. 

§  2.    First  Day's  Work— Light Ch.  1  :  3-5. 

£  3.     Second  Day's  Work — Firmament — Dry  Land — Seas.     .  Ch.  x  .  v>~  10 


liv  SYNOPSIS  OF   THE   HISTORY. 

§  4.    Third  Day's  Work— The  Vegetable  World.     .        .        Ch.  1  :  11-13. 

§  5.    Fourth  Day's  Work— The  Luminaries Ch.  1  :  14-19. 

§  6.    Fifth  Day's  Work — Animal  Life — Fishes  and  Birds — Creation 

of  Great  Reptiles Ch.  1  :  20-23. 

§  7.     Sixth  Day's  Work— Beasts— Creation  of  Man.      .        .  Ch.  1  :  24-31. 

Aa. 

Recapitulation  and  Enlargement  of  the  Narrative. 

Creation  of  Man  (Adam  and  Eve)  in  its  Reference  to  Redemption. 
The  Sabbath — Eden — Marriage. 

§  8.    Transition  Clause Ch.  2  : 1. 

B. 

§  %a.  Institution  of  the  Sabbath Ch.  2  :  2-3. 

§  9.    Fuller  Account  of  the  Creation — Vegetable  Laws.        .       Ch.  2  :  4-6. 

§  10.    Formation  of  Adam  detailed  in    Reference  to    his    Moral 

Destiny Ch.  2  :  7. 

§  11.    Adam's  Location  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.     .        .        .     Ch.  2  :  8-17. 

§  12.    (Supplementary  Narrative.)    Formation  of  Woman — Institu- 
tion of  Marriage Ch.  2  :  18-25. 

§  13.    Temptation  and  Fall  of  Man Ch.  3  :  1-7. 

§  14.    Consequences  of  the  Fall — Curse  upon  the  Serpent.     .  Ch.  3  :  8-14. 

Part  II.     From  the  First  Promise  of  the  Messiah  to  the  Flood. 

§  15.    First  Promise — Curse  upon  the  Woman  and  the  Man.  Ch.  3  :  15-19. 

§  16.    The  Fallen  Pair  clothed — Driven  from  Eden — Cherubim,  &c. 

Ch.  3  :  20-24. 

§  17.    The  Two  Classes  of  Men — Cain  and  Abel — Sacrifice    and 

Murder. Ch.  4  : 1-16. 

§  18.    Development  in  the  Worldly  Line  of  Cain — City  Building — 

Art— Polygamy Ch.  4  :  17-24. 

§  19.    Development  in  the  Godly  Line  of  Abel — Seth,  Enos — Formal 

Separation  of  the  Church.  ....  Ch.  4  :  25-2G. 

C. 

§  20.    Sethite  Line  to  Noah  and  his  Sons Ch.  5  :  1-32. 

§  21.    Climax  of  Antediluvian  Wickedness.  .        .        .       Ch.  6  : 1-8. 


SYNOPSIS  OF   THE  HISTORY.  lv 

I>. 

§  21  a.    Line  of  Noah — Flood  threatened — Noah  directed  to  build 

the  Ark •        .    Ch.  6  :  9-22 

Part  III.     From  the  Flood  to  the  Covenant  with  Abraham  sealed. 

§22.    The  Flood— The  Ark Ch.  7  : 1-24 

§  23.    Subsiding  of  the  Flood— Ararat Ch.  8  :  1-14 

§  24.    Departure  from  the  Ark— Noah's  Sacrifice.  .        .  Ch.  8  :  15-22. 

E. 

§  25.    God's  Blessing  upon  Noah's  House — Food  and  Protection.  Ch.  9  : 1-7. 

§  26.    Covenant  wi*i*  t*™y> — Covenant  Seal — Second  Head  of  the 

Race Ch.  9  :  8-17. 

§  27.     Shem,   Ham,   and    Japhet — Their    Conduct    and    Predicted 

Future— Further  Promise  of  the  Messiah.         .        .  Ch.  9  :  18-29. 

F. 

§  28.    Ethnological  Record— Peopling  of  the  Earth.     .        .  Ch.  10  :  1-32. 

§  29.    Heathenism— Tower  of  Babel— Confusion  of  Tongues— Dis- 
persion  Ch.  11  : 1-9. 

O. 

§  30.    Semitic  Line  of  Blessing Ch.  11  :  10-26. 

If. 

Age  of  the  Patriarchs. 
%S0a.    Generations  of  Terah Ch.  11  :  27-32 

§  31.    The  Calling  and  Migration  of  Abram— Third  Head  of  the 

Race— Chosen  Family Ch.  12  : 1-9 

§  32.    Famine— Abram  in  Egypt— Sarai  and  Pharaoh.  Ch.  12  :  10-20. 

§  33.    Return  to  Canaan— Abram  and  Lot  separate.     (Siddim  — 

Mamre) Cn-  13. 

§  34.    Chedorlaomer  and  the  Kings  of  Siddim— Lot's  Capture  and 

Recovery Ch.  14  :  1-16. 

§35.    Abram  and  Melchizedek Ch.  14  :  17-24. 


Ivi  SYNOPSIS  OF   THE   HISTORY 

§  38.  Covanant-Sacrifice  and  Promise Ch.  15 

§  37.  Hagar  and  Ishmael Ch.  16 

§  38.  Covenant-Seal — Circumcision — Abraham — Sarah.       .        .  Ch.  17, 

BOOK  II. 
PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  COVENANT. 

8  39.     The  Covenant- Angel  appears  to  Abraham  at  Mamre — Inter- 
cession for  Sodom Ch.  18. 

§  40.     The  Two  Angels  appear  to  Lot — Destruction  of  Sodom — 

Lot's  Flight  to  Zoar Ch.  19. 

§  41.    Abimelech  and  Sarah  at  Gerar Ch.  20. 

§  42.    Birth  of  Isaac — Hagar  and  Ishmael  cast  out.       .        .  Ch.  21  : 1-21. 

§  43.    Abraham  and  Abimelech Ch.  21  :  22-34. 

§  44.     Trial  of  Abraham — Isaac  and  the  Sacrifice — Covenant  Promise 

renewed Ch.  22. 

§45.    Death  of  Sarah— Purchase  of  Burial-Place.  .        .        .     Ch.  23. 

§  46.     Isaac's  Marriage  to  Rebekak Ch.  24. 

§  47.    Death  of  Abraham — His  Burial  in  Macpelah.      .        .  Ch.  25  :  1-11. 

J. 

§  47a     Generations  of  Ishmael Ch.  25  :  12-18. 

§  48.     Isaac's  Sons,  Jacob  and  Esau Ch.  25  :  19-34. 

§  49.    Covenant  renewed  to  Isaac    in  Gerar — Abimelech  and  Re- 
bekah  Ch.  26. 

§  50.  Jacob  overreaches  Esau  and  obtains  the  Birth-right  Blessing.  Ch.  27. 

§  51.  Jacob's  Vision  and  Vow Ch.  28. 

§  52.  Jacob  serves  Laban  for  Leah  and  Rachel Ch.  29. 

§  53.  Jacob's  Increase  and  Prosperity. Ch.  30. 

§  54.  Jacob's  Return  to  Canaan Ch.  31. 

§  55.  Jacob's  Wrestle  with  the  Covenant  Angel — Israel.      .         .  Ch.  32. 

§  56.  Jacob  conciliates  Esau  with  Presents — Arrives  in  Canaan.  Ch.  38. 


SYNOPSIS  OF  THE  HISTORY.  lvii 

§57.    Jacob  and  Hamor  the  Hivite.        .  ...    Ch.  34. 

§  58.    Covenant  Promise  renewed  to    Jacob  at  Bethel — Jacob  at 

Mamre — Isaac's  Death Ch.  35. 

K. 

§  59.    Generations  of  Esau— The  Edomites.  .  Ch.  36. 

§  60.    Generations  of  Jacob — Joseph  sold  to  Midianite  Merchants.    Ch.  37, 

§  61.    Judah Ch.  38. 

§  62.    Joseph  sold  to  Potiphar  in  Egypt — His  Temptation  and  Im- 
prisonment.          Ch.  39. 

§  63.     Joseph  interprets  Dreams ^~.  40. 

§  64.    Joseph  interprets  Pharaoh's  Dream — Seven  Years  Famine.     Ch.  41. 

§  65.     Joseph's  Brethren  arrested  in  Egypt  as   spies — Simeon  held 

for  Benjamin Ch.  43 

§  66.  Benjamin  sent — Reception  by  Joseph.  ....  Ch.  43. 

§  67.  Silver  Cup  in  Benjamin's  sack — Judah's  Plea.     .        .        .  Ch.  44 

§  68.  Joseph  discovers  himself  to  his  Brethren — Sends  for  Jacob.  Ch.  45 

§  69.  God  appears  to  Jacob — The  Migration  of  Jacob's  House.     .  Ch.  46 

§  70.    Joseph  introduces  Jacob  and  his  Family  to  Pharaoh — Pro- 
vision for  the  Famine Ch.  47 

§  71.    Jacob's  last  Hlness — Blesses  his  adopted  Sons  Ephraim  and 

Manasseh Ch.  48. 

§  72.     Jacob's  Blessing  upon  his  Twelve  Sons — Further  Messianic 

Promise  in  the  Line  of  Judah — Jacob's  Death.  .         .     Ch.  49 

§  73.    Burial  of  Jacob  at  Macpelah — Death  and  Burial  of  Joseph.     Ch.  50 


ABBREVIATIONS. 


Jew.  Bib.,  or      ) 
Jew.  Fam.  Bib., ) 

8?pt.,  or  LXX., 


Sam    Vers., 
Jeru8.  Targ 


Vulg. 
Saad. 


Venet. 


Ouk.,  . 
8ym.f . 

Ps.  Jon. 


Aqu.,  or  Aquila, 
Theod.,    .     .    . 
Pers.,.    .    .    . 


Dr.  Benisch's  New  Translation  of  Heb.  Bible. 

Greek  Translation  of  the  0.  T.  called  "the  Septua- 
gint,"  3d  century  b.  c. 

Samaritan  Version,  2d  century. 

Jerusalem  Targum. 

Syiiac  Version,  2d  century. 

Vulgate  Version  of  Jerome,  4th  century. 

Arab.  Version  of  Saaiias,  10th  century. 

j  Greek  Version  in  St.  Mark's  Library,  Venice,  10th 
(        century. 

Onkelos,  Chaldee  Paraphrase,  1st  century 

Symmachus,  Greek  Version,  2d  century. 

Pseudo  Jonathan — a  Chaldee  Paraphrase,  7th  cen- 
tury. 

A  Greek  Version,  3d  century. 

Theodotion,  Greek  Version,  2d  century. 

Persian  Version,  9th  century. 


(«) 


THE  BOOK   OF   GENESIS, 


I 


CHAPTER  I. 

N  the  a  beginning  God  b  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth. 
2  And  the  earth  was  without  form,  and  void;^  and  dark- 


» John  1:1,2.  Heb.  1:10.  b  Ps.  8 :  3 ;  33:6;  89:11,12;  102:25;  136:5;  146:6. 
Isa.  44 :  24.  Jer.  10  :  12  ;  51 :  15.  Zech.  12  : 1.  Acts  14 :  15 ;  17:  24.  Col.  1 :  16,  17.  Heb.  11 :  3. 
Rev.  4:11;   10:6. 

BOOK  I. 
FROM  THE  CREATION  TO  THE  COVENANT. 


PART  I. 

TJie  Creation  and  the  Fall  of  Man  to  the  First  Promise. 


CHAPTER  I. 

§  1.    The   Original   Creation- 
Heaven  and  Earth.    Ch.  1:1. 

1.  In  the  beginning.  Heb.  In  be- 
ginning. Of  old — originally :  indica- 
ting, not  the  order  of  things  but 
rather  the  period — hence  indefinite — 
without  the  article — (as  Sept.  Greek 
version  also — ev  apxv)  at  an  undefined 
period  past.  John  the  Evangelist 
uses  the  same  phraseology  (ev  apxv 
John  1:1)  to  denote  the  period 
prior  to  all  created  things  when  the 
Personal  Word — the  Logos — already 
existed — originally  the  word  already 
was.  Of  course  He  existed  before 
all  created  things.  See  Prov.  8  :  23 
■. — where  the  personal  "  Wisdom  " — 
the  same  Second  Person  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity  speaks.  "  I  was  set 
up  from  everlasting — from  the  begin- 
ning, or  ever  the  earth  was."  And 
vs.  22,  "Jehovah  possessed  me  in 
the  beginning  of  His  way  before  His 
works  of  old."  The  beginning  is 
thus  defined,  as  being  "  before  ever 


the  earth  was "  and  "  before  His 
works  of  old."  See  Eph.  1:4.  Of 
course  there  is  no  such  idea  here  as 
that  of  the  eternity  of  matter,  which 
is  absurd :  but  that,  when  as  yet 
there  was  no  material  existence, 
God  brought  the  material  universe 

i  into   being,  by  His  creative  power. 

!  Some  have  held  that  this  vs.  1,  ia 
only  a  summary  declaration  of  what 
is  given  in  the  sequel  of  the  chapter. 
But  the  conjunction  "  and"  or  but, 
which  opens  the  next  verse,  shows 
the  connexion  of  the  narrative  ;  viz  : 
that  this  act  in  vs.  1,  is  the  original 
creation  and  that  vs.  2  proceeds  to 
narrate  what  afterwards  occurred. 
First  it  is  stated  that  in  the  beginning 
— originally  —  whenever  that  may 
have  been — at  the  outset — without 
giving,  here,  any  key  to  the  absolute 
antiquity  of  our  earth — the  ma- 
terial universe  was  created  by  God. 
^  God— Reb.  Elohim.  Some  take  this 
form  to  be  from  the  Arab  root  Al- 
laha — to   adore — to  worship — {Heb. 

I  alah)  as  expressing  the  worshipful 


60 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


aspect  of  the  Divine  character — 
Hengstenberg  maintains  that  it  calls 
attention  to  the  infinite  richness  and 
exhaustless  fulness  there  is  in  the 
One  Divine  Being.  The  form  is  plural 
— which  most  have  taken  to  be  the 
plural  of  eminence,  while  others  have 
regarded  it  as  a  proof  of  the  plurality 
of  Persons  in  the  Godhead.  It  is 
used  of  heathen  gods  and  of  angels, 
but  in  such  cases  the  words  agreeing 
with  it  are  in  the  plural ;  but  here, 
and  always  when  it  is  applied  to  the 
true  God,  the  verb,  or  other  qualify- 
ing words,  will  be  found  in  the 
singular — showing  that  one  person 
and  not  more,  is  spoken  of.  It  is 
commonly  referred,  for  its  root,  to 
the  verb  which  means  to  be  strong — 
(Vw)  to  be  powerful;  and  so  it  is 
the  original  absolute  name  of  God, 
appropriate  to  His  Creatorship,  and 
distinguished  from  that  other  name 
"Jehovah"  by  which  God  reveals 
Himself  more  specially  in  the 
history  of  redemption.  See  Intro- 
duction, "  The  Sources" 

The  plural  form  has  been  vainly 
supposed  by  some  to  have  been 
derived  from  polytheism.  Instead  of 
this  it  points  rather  to  the  fulness  of 
all  power  and  resources  in  God :  and 
it  points  to  polytheism  only  as  claim- 
ing for  the  One  True  God,  in  per- 
fection, all  that  which  the  name,  in 
its  utmost  force,  signifies.  Thus  un- 
derstood the  name  is  rather  a  protest 
against  idolatry. 

Here  then  is  a  flat  denial  of  all 
atheism,  polytheism  and  pantheism. 
It  is  the  sublime  revelation  of  a 
Personal  God — the  Great  First 
Cause,  Creator  of  the  Universe. 
Observe. — There  is  no  attempt 
here  to  prove  the  existence  of  God. 
It  is  assumed  as  granted.  So  it  is 
one  of  the  first  dictates  of  reason  and 
of  the  moral  sense.  ■[  Created,  ana 
.(Bara.)  This  is  the  strongest  term 
in  the  Hebrew  to  denote  original 
creation.  It  is  used  in  its  different 
jforms  fifty-four  times  in  the  Old  Tes- 
ftament,  and  in  all  cases,  excepting 
;nine,  it  is  rendered  in  our  transla- 
tion by  oil'1  word  create.      The  Sept. 


(Greek)  version  has  e-oi-qae.  It  is 
used  elsewhere,  as  here,  of  bringing 
into  being  the  material  universe 
Ps.  89:12.  Isa.  40:26.  It  is  ap- 
plied, also,  to  the  Almighty  work  of 
Regeneration  (Ps.  51 :  10,)  which  is 
a  new  creation :  and  so  the  corres- 
ponding Greek  term  is  used  Eph.  2 : 
10.  Of  course  if  God  created  all 
things,  then  He  must  have  created 
the  original  material  out  of  nothing. 
Though  the  verb  here  used  does  not 
necessarily,  nor  in  all  cases,  express 
this  idea,  yet  it  is  the  only  term  used 
to  denote  this — and  it  is  everywhere 
applied  to  God  only.  There  are 
other  Heb.  terms  which  signify  to 
form — to  arrange,  &c;  and  they  are 
also  used  in  this  narrative.  This 
term  is  used  in  three  separate  instan- 
ces in  this  chapter  (and.  repeated  in 
vs.  27,)  and  in  each  case  it  expressly 
introduces  a  new  department  of  the 
creative  work.  It  is  used  1st  of  the 
creation  of  matter — the  Heaven  and 
the  Earth— ch.  1:1.  2d.  Of  the  crea- 
tion of  Life,  as  conscious  life  (ch. 
1 :  21,)  therefore  not  applied  to  vegeta- 
ble life  since  this  is  not  yet  life,  but 
rather  only  matter  in  a  shape  to  be 
used  by  conscious  (animal)  life.  3d. 
It  is  used  of  Man,  as  Life  and  Spirit ; 
(ch.  1:27,)  the  highest  style  of  life 
in  this  creation.  Jesus  is  God  and 
Man — the  God-man.  Man  is  now 
created  "male  and  female."  But 
ultimately,  and  as  united  to  the 
God-man,  it  is  no  longer  male  and 
female — neither  in  the  completed 
Church  nor  in  the  Resurrection, 
(Matt.  22  :  30  ;  Gal.  3  :  28.) 

Prof.  0.  if.  Mitchel,  who  advo- 
cates the  day  periods  and  the  nebular 
theory,  mistakes  when  he  says  that 
"  the  word  here  rendered  '  created ' 
(vs.  1,)  is  nowhere  else  employed 
throughout  this  narrative,"  (p.  180. 
Astro?i.  of  the  Bible).  He  argues, 
hence,  that  "  there  was  but  one 
creation  and  that  was  of  matter,  in 
the  beginning."  —  Gesenius  makes 
the  word  to  mean  primarily  to  cut, 
to  polish,  as  in  the  Piel  conjugation. 

But  this  meaning  seems  rather  to 
belona:  to  a  kindred  term  of  a  differ- 


B.C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


01 


ent  termination — though  the  original 
biliteral  form  may  have  had  that 
sense  as  would  seem  from  the  Arab 
root,  meaning  to  cut,  &c.  Usage, 
however,  plainly  distinguishes  the 
two  words  and  gives  to  bara  as  it 
here  occurs,  the  original  sense  to 
create — to  produce  out  of  nothing. 
The  three  terms  which  are  employed 
in  the  narrative  and  by  some  re- 
garded as  synonymous,  are  Bara 
(ans).  He  created.  Asah  (rto$S 
He  made.  He  did.  Yatzar  (is;.) 
He  formed,  fashioned.  Of  these,  the 
first  is  applied  only  to  God.  The 
latter  two  are  used  of  men.  Gesenius 
shows  that  the  term  Bara,  (ch.  1 : 1), 
cannot  mean  merely  the  conforma- 
tion of  matter,  as  if  matter  could  he 
eternal.  Hence  the  creation  is  else- 
where referred  to  in  the  Scripture  as 
a  Divine  act,  by  an  Almighty  fiat. 
Ps.  33 : 9.  Ps.  143  : 5.  This  word  is 
indeed  used  of  the  creation  of  man, 
and  this  is  held  by  some  as  an  ob- 
jection to  this  view  because  man  was 
made  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth. 
But  man-  was  also  created  as  spirit 
(ch.  1:27,)  and  hence  this  term  is 
used  in  reference  to  man's  creation 
in  the  image  of  God  (ch.  1:27,)  and 
the  other  term  {Yaizar)  is  used  of 
man's  formation  as  matter  out  of  the 
dust,  (ch.  2  : 7.)  Thus  the  distinction 
between  the  terms  is  accurately  ob- 
served and  illustrated.  "  God  created 
man  in  His  own  image,"  and  "  He 
formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground."  And  speaking  of  all  God's 
work,  the  inspired  historian  uses 
both  terms.  "All  His  work  which 
God  created  and  made."  Ch.  2  :  3, 
(lit.  created  to  make.) 

In  ch.  5  :  2,  both  bara  and  asah 
are  used.  "In  the  day  that  God 
created  man,  in  the  likeness  of  God 
made  He  him." 

We  are  here  taught : 

1.  That  the  world  is  not  eternal, 
but  created.  2.  That  it  was  created 
by  a  Personal  God.  3.  That  this 
creation  comprised  all  the  material 
universe,  and  not  merely  the  ma- 
terials  of  the  universe,    and    that 


"  without  Him  was  not  any  one  thing 
made  which  was  made,"  John,  1 :  3. 
^[  TJie  heaven.  Jew.  Bib. — th  e  /■  ■ 
This  term  is  found  only  in  the  plural 
— from  the  root  sham  ah,  to  be  high — 
properly,  the  heights.  The  whole 
phrase,  "  the  heaven  and  the  earth," 
is  meant  to  denote  the  material  uni- 
verse. It  can  not  here  mean  the 
firmament,  which  God  called  "Heav- 
en," on  the  second  day,  (vs.  8,)  any 
more  than  "the  earth"  here  can 
mean  "  the  dry  land,"  called  "  earth," 
as  distinct  from  the  waters.  Noth- 
ing is  recorded  of  the  creation  of 
waters  except  as  it  is  found  included 
in  the  comprehensive  sense  of  this 
verse.  Nor  does  vs.  16,  as  we  shall 
see,  announce  the  creation  of  the 
stars.  Nor  does  this  record  inform 
us  of  the  creation  of  angels,  or  of  any 
of  those  higher  orders  of  being. 
The  phrase,  "  the  heaven  and  the 
earth,"  is  to  be  taken  in  its  widest 
meaning :  and  the  historian  opens 
here  with  the  statement  that  all 
things  were  created  by  God — both 
the  heavenly  worlds  and  their  ten- 
ants, and  the  globe  which  we  in- 
habit. It  is  no  part  of  the  histo- 
rian's object  to  tell  us  when  Jupiter, 
or  Saturn  were  created,  nor  when 
the  original  form  was  given  to  the 
materials  of  our  globe,  or  cf  any  of 
the  globes.  He  will  only  assert  dis- 
tinctly that  God,  (Elohim,)  in  the 
begin ning — originally — at  first — cre- 
ated the  material  universe — all  things 
— and,  of  course,  out  of  nothing. 
'Y  The  earth.  This  planet  of  ours, 
as  distinct  from  all  other  globes — • 
for  it  is  the  history  of  this  earth  that 
is  now  to  be  further  detailed ;  and 
with  which  we  are  here  specially 
concerned.  The  term  here  denotes, 
not  "  the  dry  land,"  as  in  vs.  8,  but 
the  original  earthy,  universal  mass 
of  our  globe.  By  what  processes  it 
took  its  original  form  is  not  stated. 
Nothing  is  hinted  of  any  aqueous, 
or  igneous,  or  nebular  theory.  The 
historian,  true  to  his  proper  object, 
simply  declares  the  fundamental 
fact.  He  could  have  no  personal 
knowledge  of  what  was  anterior  to 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


ness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep :  c  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 


Is.  40 :  13,  14. 


all  human  experience,  and  he  gives 
it  as  a  dictate  of  Divine  Inspiration. 
We  may  here  observe  the  relation 
of  the  successive  days'  works.  The 
first  three  days  give  us,  in  their  or- 
der, light  and  air,  with  an  adjust- 
ment of  the  waters  and  the  earth — 
the  elements  of  things.  Next  came 
the  compound  organisms.  The  sun 
and  moon  arranged  on  the  fourth 
day,  answering  to  light  of  the  first 
day.  Birds  and  fishes  of  the  fifth 
day,  answering  to  atmosphere  and 
clouds  of  the  second.  Creeping 
things,  and  cattle,  and  man  of  the 
sixth,  answering  to  fields,  seas,  and 
plants  of  the  third  day.  Hugh  Mil- 
ler holds  himself  bound  to  account 
for  only  the  last  three  days,  on  his 
geological  principles.  But  this  is 
rather  a  confession  of  the  difficulty 
he  meets  on  his  plan  of  interpreta- 
tion. Here  is  a  threefold  arrange- 
ment. Geology,  also,  finds  a  three- 
fold arrangement  of  strata  which  it 
calls  the  primary,  secondary,  and 
tertiary. 

§  1.  a.  TnE  Chaos  and  Transition. 
Ch.  1 :  2. 

2.  And  tlw  earth.  Jew.  Fam. 
Bib. — But  the  earth.  The  copula- 
tive conjunction  shows  that  this 
is  the  second  fact  in  the  narrative. 
The  sacred  historian  now  proceeds 
from  the  general  statement  to  what 
more  particularly  concerns  mankind 
— the  condition  of  our  earth  imme- 
diately prior  to  the  creative  week. 
Without  detailing  the  history  of  the 
material  universe  up  to  this  time,  he 
passes  at  once  to  human  affairs. 
Without  indicating  the  age  of  our 
earth,  he  simply  informs  us  of  its 
condition  when  the  Creator  entered 
upon  the  work  of  the  six  clays.  It 
is  not  as  some  read  it,  "  And  the 
earth,  it,  or  she  was.  As  no  reference 
is  made  to  the  history  of  the  chaos 


— how  the  earth  came  into  this  des- 
|  olate  state — but  only  the  fact  is 
!  given,  it  is  not  said  "  And  the  earth 
i  became,"  but  was  thus.  Between  the 
initial  act  of  creation  (vs.  1,)  and 
the  subsequent  details  of  Genesis, 
the  world,  for  aught  we  know,  might 
have  been  the  theatre  of  many  rev- 
olutions, the  traces  of  which  geol- 
ogy may  still  investigate.  This  is 
the  view  of  Chalmers,  and  the  more 
commonly  received  view  at  present. 
T[  Without  form  and  void,  (Heb.  thohu 
vavohu.)  Wiclif — Idil  and  voyde. 
Aquila  —  vacuity  and  nothingness. 
Sept. — invisible  and  unformed,  aopa- 
mg  kcu  aKaraaKevaoToc;,  or,  dark 
and  unfinished.  Chald. — desert  and 
empty.  Syriac — waste  and  unculti- 
vated. Jew.  Bib. — desolate  and  void. 
Ains worth  renders  without  inhabit- 
ants and  without  produce.  Tremel- 
lius — without  plants  and  without  ani- 
mals. The  same  phrase  is  used,  Isa. 
54 :  11,  confusion  and  emptiness.  The 
terms  are  not  adjectives  as  would 
seem  from  our  version,  but  nouns, 
meaning  devastation  and  destruction. 
From  this  it  is  argued  that  this 
chaos  was  not  the  primitive  condi- 
tion of  things,  but  the  wreck  of 
some  primeval  creation  of  this  earth 
to  which  it  had  been  reduced  by 
some  unrecorded  catastrophe.  It  is 
distinctly  stated,  (Isa.  45  :  18,)  that 
the  earth  was  not  created  without 
form  {thohu,  desolate.)  "  He  created 
it  not  in  vain,"  {para  and  thohu  both 
used  as  here,)  and  then  it  is  added : 
"  He  formed  it  (yatzar,)  to  be  inhab- 
ited,"— referring  in  the  first  clause 
to  the  original  creation,  and  in  the 
second  clause  to  the  six  days'  work. 
In  1837,  Prof.  Bessel,  of  Germany, 
commenced  a  series  of  astronomical 
measures  for  getting  the  exact  dis- 
tance of  the  fixed  stars,  a  thing  that 
had  never  been  done.  The  instru- 
ment which  he  used  in  connection 
with  a  powerful  telesc  ope,  in  his  ex. 


B  C.4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


periments,  was  called  the  great  Kon- 
igsberg  heliometer.  After  three 
years' hard  labor,  lie  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  obtain  a  parallax,  but  so  minute, 
that  he  could  hardly  trust  his  repu- 
tation upon  it.  But  after  repeated 
trials  and  working  out  the  result,  he 
was  fully  satisfied  that  he  could  give 
the  true  distance  to  61  Cygni.  But 
who  can  comprehend  this  immense 
space?  We  can  only  convey  an 
idea  to  the  mind  of  this  distance,  by 
the  fact  that  light  which  travels  12,- 
000,000  of  miles  in  a  minute,  requires 
not  less  than  ten  years  to  reach  us ! 
Just  let  any  one  try  to  take  in  the 
idea.  One  hour  would  give  720,000,- 
000  of  miles ;  one  year,  then — 8,760 
hours— this  gives  6,307,200,000,000, 
and  this  multiplied  by  tet,  gives 
63,072,000,000,000.  This,  according 
to  Bessel,  is  the  distance  of  the  near- 
est fixed  star  to  the  sun.  All  as- 
tronomers confirm  the  correctness  of 
Prof.  BesseVs  calculationa  But  this 
distance,  great  as  it  is,  is  nothing  to 
be  compared  to  the  distance  of  the 
Milky  Way.  Sir  William  Herschel 
says  that  the  stars,  or  suns,  that 
compose  the  Milky  Way  are  so  very 
remote,  that  it  requires  light,  going 
at  the  rate  of  12,000,000  of  miles  in 
a  minute,  120,000  years  to  reach  the 
earth.  And  he  says  there  are  stars, 
or  rather  nebulae,  five  hundred  times 
more  remote !  Now  make  your  cal- 
culation :  120,000  years  reduced  to 
minutes,  and  then  multiply  that 
sum  by  12,000,000,  and  the  product 
by  500.  What  an  overwhelming 
idea !  The  mind  sinks  under  such  a 
thought ;  we  cannot  realize  it ;  it  is 
too  vast  even  for  comprehension. 
David  says,  (Psalm  103  :  19,)  "  The 
Lord  hath  prepared  His  throne  in 
the  heavens,  and  His  kingdom  (or 
government)  ruleth  over  all." 

Observe. — It  is  not  said,  "  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  were  without 
form,"  as  we  might  expect  on  the 
nebular  theory  of  this  chapter — but 
the  earth  only.  It  seems  not,  there- 
fore, to  refer  to  the  original  condition 
of  the  universe  as  if  the  chaos  here 
were  the  nebulous  matter  in  a  for- 


mative state.  The  full  phrase,  as 
here  found,  is  used  by  Jeremiah 
(4:  23,)  as  descriptive  of  the  utter 
desolation  denounced  upon  Jerusa- 
lem and  Judah,  as  if  all  were  reduced 
to  this  primitive  chaos.  "  I  beheld 
the  earth,  and,  lo,  it  was  without 
form  and  void  ;  and  the  heavens,  and 
they  had  no  light."  T[  Without  form, 
(*nn,  thohu.)  This  word  occurs  nine- 
teen times  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
is  rendered  waste,  vain,  wilderness, 
confusion,  vanity — the  one  idea  of 
desolation  running  through  all. 
If  Void,  (wa,  bhohu.)  This  term 
occurs  only  three  times — once  ren- 
dered emptiness,  (Isa.  34 :  11,)  where 
the  reference  is  to  a  threatened  des- 
truction. "  He  shall  stretch  out  upon 
it  (the  land)  the  lines  of  confusion, 
and  the  stones  of  emptiness."  He 
shall  devote  it,  that  is,  to  utter  deso- 
lation and  ruin.  In  such  condition 
of  chaotic  confusion  and  disarrange- 
ment the  earth  was — devoid  of  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  life,  and  empty 
of  tenants.  If  geology  finds  that 
certain  species  of  animals,  now  ex- 
tinct, must  have  existed  upon  our 
earth  long  prior  to  the  Mosaic  period, 
and  before  such  chaos  reigned,  we 
find  ample  room  for  such  facts  here, 
and  without  violence  to  the  inspired 
narrative.  The  six  days'  creative 
work,  as  now  to  be  narrated,  is  not 
interfered  with.  The  only  additional 
fact  is  that  our  globe  itself  is  oldei 
than  six  thousand  years,  and  that  vs 
1,  refers  to  its  original  creation,  in 
the  far  remote  beginning.  While 
the  six  days'  work  was  a  new  crea- 
tion and  formation,  with  man  as  the 
crowning  creature,  and  the  crowning 
feature  of  the  work.  The  narrative 
does  not  tell  us  of  the  age  of  our 
earth,  nor  of  the  convulsions  and 
revolutions  which  preceded  its  pres- 
ent state. — (See  Introduction — Crea- 
tive Days.) 

The  researches  of  M.M.  Orbigny 
and  Eli  de  Beaumont  show  that  im- 
mediately prior  to  the  human  period, 
the  earth  did  pass  through  its  great- 
est convulsion — that  four  of  the 
largest  mountain  ranges  were  then 


84 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4103 


thrown  up  —  the  principal  Alps, 
the  Himmalayas,  the  Chilian  An- 
des, and  the  mountain  ranges  of 
Persia  and  Cabul.  *[  And  dark- 
ness. "Apart  from  the  record,  we 
have  the  proofs  of  the  occurrence 
here  of  a  vast  interval,  altogether 
unnoted  in  the  sacred  volume — 
an  interval  in  which  all  pre-his- 
toric  geology  finds  place.  The  re- 
mote past  is  thus  brought  down  to 
the  gate  of  the  present ;  hut  not  yet 
is  it  to  he  introduced  and  inaugura- 
ted. As  though  to  exclude  ever- 
more the  argument  which  would 
educe  the  present  from  the  past  by 
some  inevitable  process,  there  is  to 
be  an  intermediate  condition  of  dark- 
ness and  apparent  ruin,  which  shall 
render  the  creative  power  of  God 
the  more  striking  and  illustrious. 

"  Geology  reveals  to  us  that  this 
was  not  a  phenomenon  preceding 
all  order  whatever,  but  a  marked 
interruption  in  the  sequence  of 
physical  events." — {Pattison.) 

This  was  the  aspect  of  that  chaos 
out  of  which  the  Creator  is  now  to 
evoke  light,  and  life,  and  beauty. 
"%  "  Darkness  (was)  upon  the  face  of 
the  deep"  Lit. — of  the  abyss.  Sept. — 
over  the  abyss.  Jew.  Bib. — upon  the 
face  of  the  murmuring  deep.  The 
deep,  or  abyss,  is  understood  by  some 
who  advocate  the  nebular  theory  to 
mean  the  abyss  of  unformed  matter 
in  a  nebulous  state  pervading  space. 
But  it  is  the  term  every  where  used 
of  the  depths,  the  great  deep,  etc.,  of 
waters.  It  occurs  thirty-five  times, 
and  uniformly  in  this  sense.  (See 
Prov.  8  :  24,  etc.,)—"  Who  layeth  up 
the  depth  (deep)  in  storehouses,"  Ps. 
33  :  7.  "  The  deep  "  here  must,  there- 
fore, mean  the  mass  of  waters  envel- 
oping the  earth,  and  shrouded  in 
this  darkness  of  chaos.  It  is  de- 
scribed by  the  Psalmist  with  refer- 
ence to  this  narrative,  (Ps.  104 :  6,) 
"  Thou  coveredst  it  (the  earth)  with 
the  deep  as  with  a  garment:  the 
waters  stood  above  the  mountains." 
The  Hebrew  word  means,  properly, 
— murmunng  waters,  as  of  the  ocean 
—  waters     in     commotion  —  which 


further  expresses  the  condition  of 
the  chaos.  Observe. — There  is  no 
distinct  mention  of  any  creation 
of  the  waters,  or  of  the  earth,  ex. 
cept  as  it  is  included  in  verse  1. 
Tf  And  the  Spirit  of  God.— Onkelos 
and  Jonathan  read  it  wind.  The  an- 
cient Jewish  tract  Sol  tar  explains  it 
of  "the  Spirit  of  Messiah."  The 
glorious  Third  Person  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity  is  here  referred  to,  whose 
life-giving  agency  was  engaged  in 
the  material  creation.  Some  would 
understand  this  merely  of  the  wind 
as  a  natural  agency.  There  is  no 
inconsistency  in  supposing  that  there 
was  such  a  natural  phenomenon  as 
of  a  rushing,  mighty  wind,  just  as 
there  was  at  the  Spirit's  advent  in 
the  new  creation.  But  this  was  only 
an  outward  sign  and  symbol  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  Himself  acting  in 
both  cases.  "  By  His  Spirit  He  hath 
garnished  the  heavens."  So  the 
Psalmist  refers  to  this  narrative  and 
says,  "By  the  word  of  the  Lord 
were  the  heavens  made,  and  all  the 
host  of  them  by  the  breath  {spirit)  of 
Bis  mouth,"  (Ps.  33  :  6.)  "  Thou  send- 
est  forth  thy  spirit,  they  are  created : 
and  thou  renewest  the  face  of  the 
earth,"  (Ps.  104:30.)  ^  Moved. 
Lit. — was  moving,  or  brooding  as 
a  bird  over  her  young — used  in 
Deut.  32  :  11,  of  the  eagle  flutter- 
ing over  her  young.  Jew.  Bib. — was 
h o  rering.  Sept. — teas  sweeping  along. 
Almost  the  same  form  of  the  word 
is  used  in  Acts  2  :  2,  "rusliing." 
Over  the  chaotic  deep  the  Spirit  of 
God — the  Holy  Ghost — was  brooding 
—fluttering — actively  moving,  as  the 
preliminary  of  the  six  days'  creative 
work.  The  form  of  the  word  here 
used  denotes  continuous  action.  "  It 
was,  (says  Gesenius,)  the  creative 
and  quickening  power  of  God,  which 
hovered  over  the  chaotic  earth  as  if 
brooding."  But  as  we  know  from 
the  Scripture  that  the  Personal 
Word  wrought  in  the  creation, 
(John,  1 :  1,)  so  we  are  here  informed 
that  the  Personal  Spirit  also  wrought, 
and  that  thus  the  Trinity  of  Persons 
was  engaged,    ^f  Upon  the  face  of 


B.  C.  4102.]  CHAPTER  I.  65 

3  d  And  God  said,  e  Let  there  be  light :  and  there  was  light. 

d  Pe.  33  :  9.     e  2  Cor.  4  :  6. 


the  waters — the  abyss.  This  was  the 
preparation  for  the  stupendous  crea- 
tive results.  This  is  the  deep  already 
spoken  of,  upon  which  the  darkness 
hung,  and  over  which  now  the  Di- 
vine Spirit  brooded.  We  are  fore- 
warned that  skeptics  who  shall  arise 
in  these  last  days  shall  be  willingly 
ignorant  of  this,  that  by  the  word  of 
God  the  heavens  icere  of  old,  and  the 
earth  standing  (consisting,  subsisting) 
out  of  (the)  water  and  in  (through, 
by  means  of)  the  water,"  (2  Pet.  3 :  5.) 

§  2.  The  First  Day's  Work,  or 
Fiat — Light.    Ch.  1 :  3. 

3.  And  God  said.  This  phrase  is 
used  to  introduce  the  creative  fiats. 
Here  we  may  notice  a  hint  of  the 
Personal  Logos,  or  Word  of  God,  by 
whom  all  things  were  made,  (John 
1:3.) 

Here  is  the  original  germ  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  which  all 
along  comes  more  fully  to  view.  In 
vs.  1,  it  is  simply  God.  In  vs.  2. 
The  Spirit  of  God.  In  vs.  3,  the 
word  of  God,  as  a  hint  of  the 
Personal  Word.  "[[  Let  there  be  light. 
Let  light  be.  And  light  was.  Jew. 
Fam.  Bib.  Be  there  light.  Sept. 
Let  light  become,  or  come  to  pass. 
Light,  which  is  so  important  an 
element  in  the  whole  economy  of 
nature — so  necessary  to  animal  and 
vegetable  life,  as  well  as  to  order  and 
inorganic  form,  is  here  noted  as  the 
first  created  agency.  And  this  is 
precisely  what  the  whole  economy 
of  nature  would  indicate.  The 
creative  act  is  here  recorded  as  ac- 
companied by  a  Divine  utterance. 
Ps.  33  : 9.  He  spake  and  it  was  done, 
&c.  Not  that  we  need  suppose  any 
spoken  word  of  God,  or  any  audible 
voice.  There  was  no  man  to  hear 
it,  as  yet.  But  the  Scripture  fre- 
quently declares  that  the  creation  was 
by  means  of  the  Personal  Word  of 
God — as  the  Revealer  of  the  Godhead 


— Himself  the  expression  of  the 
Father's  mind  and  the  utterance  of 
His  will,  (John  1 :  2,  3.)  Eph.  3  : 9. 
Heb.  1:2,10-12.    Col.  1:16. 

This  was  by  the  mighty  fiat  o 
God.  God  commanded  the  light  to 
shine  out  of  darkness,  (2  Cor.  4 : 6.) 
And  it  was  none  the  less  so,  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  physical 
processes  or  phenomena.  y.t  required 
almightiness  to  bring  second  causes 
into  such  orderly  action,  and  to 
clothe  them  with  such  power  as  to 
effect  the  stupendous  results.  ^  And 
there  was  light.  (Sept. — and  light  be- 
came.) A  question  here  arises  how 
light  could  have  been  callud  forth  at 
this  early  stage,  when  the  making 
of  "  two  great  lights  "  is  assigned  to 
the  fourth  day.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  light  does  not  belong  to 
the  sun  as  such.  It  depends  upon 
the  structure  of  our  atmosphere,  as 
well  as  upon  the  luminc  us  atmos- 
phere of  the  sun  adapting  it  to  our 
use.  The  sun  is  rather  in  reality  a 
"  Ug7it-bearer."  And  this  is  the  very 
term  employed,  as  we  shall  see,  to 
designate  the  sun  and  moon,  in  vs.  4. 
It  is  not  said  that  the  sun  was 
created  on  the  fourth  day  as  we  shall 
see.  Neither  is  the  sun  the  sole 
source  of  light  in  creation,  as  the  fixed 
stars  show.  The  solar  system  was 
most  probably  created  long  before — 
(vs.  1,)  and  the  sun  and  moon  may 
have  shed  light  upon  the  earth  in 
its  former  conditions,  when  it  was 
tenanted  by  those  animals  whose 
remains  are  imbedded  in  the  rocks. 
But  they  had  not  been  light-bearers 
to  our  earth  since  the  reign  of  Chaos. 
Now  the  Divine  word  is  requisite  to 
evoke  light  from  the  darkness.  2. 
Cor.  4 : 6.  Ps.  104 : 2.  Job  36 :  30. 
^f  Let — the  word  of  command  here 
used  in  the  Hebrew  is  a  short  form 
of  the  future  of  the  substantive  verb, 
which  is  often  used  in  Hebrew  for 
the  imperative. 

That  light  has  existed  for  ages,  ia 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 
arid  God  divided 


4  And  God  saw  the  light,  that  it  toas  good 
the  light  from  the  darkness. 

5  And  God  called  the  light  f  Day,  and  the  darkness  he  called 
Night:  and  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  first  day. 

f  Ps.  74 :  16 ;  104 :  20. 


clear  from  the  fact  that  there  are 
distant  nebulae  whose  light  we  can 
see  with  the  naked  eye,  and  whose 
distance  is  such  that  it  would  take 
that  light  120,000  years  to  reach  us. 

A  distinction  is  made  between 
light  as  an  element,  and  the  bodies  af- 
terwards constituted  as  light  bearers  ; 
the  sun  in  which  the  light  is  stored 
being  ascribed  to  the  fourth  day. 
This  was  formerly  a  stumbling  block 
in  the  record.  At  last  (says  Prof. 
Dana,)  through  modern  scientific 
research  we  learn  that  the  appear- 
ance of  bight  on  the  first  day,  and 
of  the  sun  on  the  fourth — an  idea 
foreign  to  man's  unaided  conception 
— is  as  much  in  the  volume  of  nature 
as  in  that  of  Sacred  Writ.  Bib.  Sac, 
Jan.  1856,  p.  48. 

4.  God  sate,  &c.  What  God  did 
thus  evoke  by  this  creative  word, 
He  approves  and  commends  to  us  as 
good — as  answering  its  great  end, 
and  as,  in  itself  pleasant  (good)  to 
behold.  Eccles,  11 :  7.  So  we  ought 
to  contemplate  it  with  adoring 
delight.  ^  And  God  divided,  (sepa- 
rated.) Heb. — between  the  light  and 
between  the  darkness.  Darkness  itself, 
of  course  was  not  created — being 
only  the  absence  of  light.  This 
separation  was  such  a  division  of  the 
two  into  different  periods,  as  we  have 
in  the  succession  of  day  and  night. 
We  may  infer  that  it  was  the  result 
of  the  earth's  revolution  on  her  axis, 
and  that  the  sun  shone,  though  not 
yet  so  clearly  and  fully  as  afterwards 
— or  that  the  light  was  not  yet 
emanating  from  the  sun — (see  vs. 
14.)  It  would  seem  that  the  light 
may  have  been  generally  diffused  at 
the  first  command,  and  afterwards, 
on  the  fourth  day,  gathered  into  the 
orb.  But  we  have  only  to  do  with 
the  fact  here   recorded — that   the 


darkness  anl  the  light  were  sepa- 
rated by  the  Creator.     This  was  pre- 
liminary to  the  more  fixed  arrange- 
ment of  the  fourth  day.     We  are  not 
bound  to  explain  all  these  facts  on 
scientific  principles,  because  this  wa? 
;  the  originating  of  nature's  laws  and 
!  not  necessarily  the  working  of  those 
!  laws,  as  we  find  them  in  their  pres- 
!  ent  operations.     This  is  the  Divinely 
inspired  narrative   of  preternatural 
acts  introducing  the  natural  opera 
|  tions.     "  Where  is  the  way  where 
!  light  dwelleth  ;  and  as  for  darkness, 
:  where  is   the  place  thereof."      See 
|  Job  38  :  12,  19. 

5.    And  God  called  the  Light  Day. 
I  We  may  understand  by  this  that 
!  God  here  formally  gives  the  name, 
i  and  appoints  the  day  for  the  time  of 
i  light — and  the  night  for  the  time  of 
|  darkness.     This  latter  is  the  sense  in 
l  which  we  often  read  of  a  thing  being 
called  by  a  name.     It  is  a  designa- 
!  tion  of  its  laws,  qualities,  or  charac- 
i  teristics.     "  Dai/," — in  Heb.,  is  from 
a    term    signifying    warmth,    heat. 
i  And  night  signifies  a  rolling  up,  or 
j  wrapping  up.     This  is  the  first  use 
of  the  word  "  day,"  and  refers  to  the 
!  artificial  day,  and  not  to  the  natural 
day,  which  includes,  also,  the  night. 
^[  And  the  evening.    Lit. — And  even- 
ing teas,  and  morning  was,  day  one — 
or,  and  there  was  evening,  and  there 
was  morning,  one  day.    It  is  argued 
by  some  that  the  use  here  of  the 
cardinal  number  one,  for  the  ordinal 
first,  is  to  be  explained  by  the  use 
of  the  same  term  often  to  express 
something  peculiar,    special — hence 
that  a  day  of  peculiar  length  may 
be  inferred — a  period  of  indefinite 
duration. 

But  the  use  of  the  ordinal  is  found 
in  the  record  of  all  the  other  six 
days.    Yet  there  would  be  the  same 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


67 


6  %  And  God  said,  S  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst  of 
the  waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters. 

g  Job  3T :  18  ;  Ps.  136  :  5 ;  Jer.  10 :  12  ;  51  :  15. 


need,  (and  greater)  for  supposing 
indefinite  periods  for  the  other  days 
as  for  this  day,  while  there  would 
not  he  this  same  ground  for  it,  in 
the  use  of  the  terms.  For  it  is  not 
pretended  that  the  term  '  second  '  is 
also  used  in  the  sense  of  peculiar, 
special.  It  is  objected  to  the  ordinary- 
sense  of  "day"  in  this  narrative, 
that  the  solar  day  did  not  exist  until 
the  fourth  day.  But  this  is  not  to 
be  assumed.  The  sun  doubtless 
existed — and  there  was  light,  and 
the  light  time  was  here  called  by  the 
name  of  " Day"  which  it  has  ever 
since  borne — and  it  is  said  that 
"  there  was  evening  and  there  was 
morning"  on  the  first  day,  which 
would  seem  to  imply  the  earth's 
rotation  on  her  axis,  in  reference  to 
the  sun,  the  centre  of  the  system, 
making  the  day.  And  though  it  was 
not  until  the  fourth  day  that  the 
sun  and  moon  were  formally  set  and 
designated  as  the  light  bearers,  with 
reference  to  the  earth,  this  does  not 
by  any  means  prove  that  the  earth 
did  not  revolve  on  her  axis,  with  ref- 
erence to  the  sun  on  the  first  day. 
The  sun  does  not  make  the  days ;  it 
only  marks  them.  The  day  was  not 
from  evening  to  evening,  but  from 
morning  to  morning.  Evening  came 
— "  there  was  evening  " — and  morn- 
ing came  (of  the  next  day)  making 
"  day  one,"  just  as  we  date  year  one, 
after  the  twelve  months  are  finished, 
and  we  have  come  to  the  opening  of 
the  second  year. 

§  3.    Second    Day's    Work — Fir- 
mament.      Ch.  1 :  G-8. 

6.  After  the  subjugation  of  the 
darlcness  on  the  first  day,  comes  the 
subjugation  of  the  waters  on  the 
second  day,  so  that  in  the  light,  the 
earth  might  now  appear,  which  was 


yet  wrapped  in  the  waters  of  the 
abyss.  %  Let  there  be.  This  is 
still  the  form.  The  expression 
of  God's  creative  will,  precedes  in 
the  narrative  the  creative  act. 
The  act  is  expressly  recorded,  vs.  7. 
Tf  A  firmament.  (Heb.)  an  ex- 
panse ;  from  the  verb,  to  spread  out. 
So  God  is  spoken  of  as  stretching 
out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain.  The 
Sept.  and  Vulg.,  render  the  word  by 
a  term  which  means  a  solidity,  from 
which  we  have  firmament.  But  the 
Heb.  term  conveys  no  such  idea. 
The  expanse,  as  an  outstretching — 
having  elasticity  and  thinness — is  the 
very  idea  of  our  atmosphere.  "  Who 
alone,  spreadeth  out  the  heavens. 
Who  stretcheth  out  the  heavens  like 
a  curtain."     Job  9  :  8.     Ps.  104  :  2. 

It  has  the  appearance  of  fixedness 
as  a  veil  or  curtain  of  blue,  and  the 
language  of  Scripture  is  phenomenal. 
In  Isa.  40  :  22  the  term  for  "  curtain  " 
means  something  tremulous — a  cur- 
tain hanging,  so  called  from  its 
tremulous  motion.  This  describes 
the  undulating  motion  of  the  ethe- 
real fluid  by  which  light  is  evolved. 
The  firmament  is  the  vacant  region 
of  the  atmosphere,  above  which,  (to 
the  higher  part)  rise  the  lighter 
particles  of  water  —  the  vapory 
clouds — and  below  which  the  heavier 
masses  of  waters  were  now  precipi- 
tated into  seas  and  oceans.  Hence 
it  is  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  waters 
— meaning,  as  a  dividing  space, 
placed  in  the  midst  of  (between)  the 
waters,  celestial  and  terrestial.  The 
effect  of  this  Divine  mandate  was  to 
make  the  region  of  the  atmosphere 
a  separating  expanse — which  at  once 
would  become  transparent  and  could 
be  breathed,  and  would  serve  as  a 
medium  of  light  and  life  to  the 
objects  which  wer?  to  be  brought 
forth  on  the  earth. 


68 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C  410$ 


V  And  God  made  the  firmament,  hand  divided  the  waters 
which  xoere  under  the  firmament  from  the  waters  which  were 
1  above  the  firmament :  and  it  was  so. 

8  And  God  called  the  firmament  Heaven :  and  the  evening  and 
the  morning  were  the  second  day. 

9  %  And  God  said,  k  Let  the  waters  under  the  heaven  be  gath- 
ered together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear  :  and 
it  was  so. 


h  Prov.  8  ;  28.  i  Ps.  148 :  4.   k  Job  26 :  10  ;  38 :  8. 
Prov.  8  :  29.  Jer.  5 :  22.  2  Pet.  3 :  5. 


Ps.  33 :  7  ;    95 :  5 ;    104 :  9 ;    136 :  6. 


The  law  of  this  department  is 
here  introduced.  Next  to  the  light 
is  the  law  of  the  atmosphere  so  es- 
sential to  life  in  the  vegetable  and 
animal  world.  Here  it  is  set  forth 
as  supporting  the  floating  vapor,  and 
keeping  in  suspense  a  fluid  of  greater 
specific  gravity  than  itself.  The  for- 
mation of  clouds  is  referred  to  by 
Job  in  language  which  reveals 
an  acquaintance  with  the  laws 
here  established  by  the  Creator. 
"  Dost  thou  know  the  balancings  of 
the  clouds,"  etc.  "  He  maketh  small 
the  drops  of  water."  *\\  Let  it 
divide.  Heb. — Let  it  be  causing  a 
division,  (separating.)  Let  this  be 
its  province,  and  let  it  continue  so 
to  do.  The  form  here  used  denotes 
continuous  action. 

7.  And  God  made.  The  Divine 
command  went  immediately  into 
effect.  The  term  here  rendered 
"made"  is  here  first  used,  and  six 
times  afterward  in  this  chapter.  It 
is  not  the  same  as  "  created,"  (vs.  1.) 
It  signifies  rather  to  prepare,  to  pro- 
duce, and  is  not  so  strong  a  term  as 
the  former  in  its  common  use,  (see 
vs.  1,  note.)  TT  And,  (lit.)  caused  to 
divide  between  the  waters  which  are 
from  under  the  expanse,  and  (between) 
the  waters  ivhich  are  from  above  the 
expanse  —  to  separate  the  cloudy 
vapors,  from  the  mass  of  waters  yet 
enveloping  the  earth.  *[  And  it 
was  so.  This  came  to  be  the  fixed 
arrangement.  Here  was  the  insti- 
tution of  natural  law. 
__  8.  It  only  remains  to  mention 
that  God  called  the  expanse  "  heaven," 
lit.,  the  heights — by  which  it  may  be 


meant  that  He  assigned  to  it  this 
name  already,  by  anticipation,  and 
appropriately,  also,  fixed  the  atmos- 
pheric region  on  high.  An  atmos- 
phere over  forty  miles  high  sur- 
rounds our  earth.  The  clouds  form 
in  this  atmospheric  region. 

§  4.  Third  Day's  Work — Land, 
Seas— The  Vegetable  World, 
Ch.  1 :  9-13. 

9.  The  waters,  etc.  Jew.  Bib. — 
The  ivaters  shall  be  draicn  together 
under  the  heaven,  unto  one  place,  and 
let  the  dry  land  appear.  Tiie  atmos- 
pheric region  having  been  now  fixed 
and  assigned  its  province  of  separa- 
tion between  the  waters  above  and 
beneath,  the  next  step  is  to  gather 
together  the  mass  of  waters  on  the 
earth's  surface,  unto  one  place — that 
is,  unto  their  fixed  locality — within 
the  boundary  assigned  to  them. 
^f  One  place — not  necessarily  within 
one  basin — but  into  one  collection — 
as  vs.  10 — as  separated  from  the  land. 

This  was  a  necessary  step  in  order 
to  the  reclaiming  and  separation  of 
the  land  from  the  waters,  and  in 
order  to  its  preparation  for  the  next 
day's  work,  and  to  the  occupation  of 
it  by  the  animal  tribes  about  to  be 
created.  ^[  Let  the  dry  land  appear 
— lit.,  be  seen.  Theie  were,  as  yet, 
no  human  eyes  to  see  this  land.  But 
God  ordered  now  this  new  phenom- 
enon. He  beheld  it,  and  other  be- 
ings, doubtless — the  sons  of  God  be- 
held it.  The  dry  land  would  appear 
in  mountains  jutting  out  toward  the 
sky,  making  basins  for  the  waters — 
in  extensive  continents  separated  by 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


10  And  God  called  the  dry  land  Earth;  and   the  gathering 
together  of  the  waters  called  he  Seas:  and  God  saw  that  it  was 


good. 


1 1  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  l  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb 
yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  m  fruit  after  his  kind, 
whose  seed  is  in  itself,  upon  the  earth :  and  it  was  so. 

1  Heb.  6:7.     m  Lake  G  :  44. 


seas  and  oceans,  and  in  plains  trav- 
ersed by  rivers,  and  dotted  with 
lakes,  (see  Job  28.)  These  irregular- 
ities of  surface  are  necessary,  as 
Buffon  remarks,  to  preserve  vegeta- 
tion and  life  on  the  terrestrial  globe. 
If  the  land  were  even,  and  regular, 
and  level,  the  sea  would  cover  it. 
It  is  said  by  the  Apostle  Peter  that 
the  scoffers  of  the  last  days  are 
"  willingly  ignorant  of  this  one  thing 
that  by  the  word  of  God  the  heav- 
ens were  of  old,  and  the  earth  stand- 
ing out  of  the  water,  and  in  (through) 
the  water,"  2  Peter  3  :  5.  (See  Intro- 
duction.) Job  33  :  8  refers  to  this 
Divine  act  of  creation,  "  Who  shut 
up  the  sea  with  doors,  and  said, 
Hitherto  shalt  thou  c ome,  but  no  fur- 
ther." See,  also,  Ps.  33  :  7  ;  Prov. 
8  :  29.  Doubtless  this  change,  so 
sudden,  so  universal,  must  have  been 
attended  with  violent  convulsions  of 
nature,  upheavals,  etc.  But  of  this 
we  have  here  no  account.  A  striking 
picture  of  this  scene  is  drawn  by  the 
Psalmist  in  Ps.  104  :  6-9,  "  the  hymn 
of  creation"  See,  also,  Ps.  130  :  6  ; 
24  :  2  ;  Neh.  0  :  6.  The  great  rivers, 
lakes,  seas  and  oceans,  are  but  one 
mass  of  different  waters  running  one 
into  the  other.  Job  37  and  38  ch ; 
Prov.  8  :  29. 

10.  Earth.  The  name  which 
Moses,  by  inspiration,  uses  of  the 
entire  globe,  (vs.  1,)  is  here  given  by 
God  to  the  "  dry  land."  ^  Seas.  This 
term  is  from  a  root  meaning  noisy 
agitation,  as  of  the  roaring  deep,  and 
is  a  general  term  including  all  waters 
— according  to  the  Heb.  usage.  It  is 
now  declared  that  this  work  of  God's 
creative  power  was  good.  This  is 
an  important  deiaration  as  against 
the  heathen  view  of  the  essential 


evil   of  matter — and   to  show  that 
God's  work,  which  has  since  been 
polluted  and  despoiled  by  sin,  was, 
in  the  beginning,  unequivocally  good. 
11.  Thus  far  th>-re  were  mountains 
and  valleys,   seas  and    rivers — but 
there    was    as   yet    no    vegetation. 
This  was,  therefore,  now  to  be  pro- 
duced by  the  same  Almighty  power 
of  God.     The  earth  had  no  germi- 
nating principle  ot    itself.     All  its 
products   must    now  proceed  from 
God's  ordering.     This  producing  of 
the  vegetable  tribes  was  prior  to  the 
calling  forth   of  sun  and  moon,  to 
show    God's    creatorship    as    being- 
prior  and  superior  to  natural  laws. 
f  Let  the  earth,  etc.    Jew.  Bib. — The 
earth  shall  sprout  forth  sprouts.    The 
term  here  rendered  grass — is,  prop- 
erly, the  tender  blades  first  shooting 
from  the  earth.     The  margin  reads 
tender  grass  ;  and  it  is  often  rendered 
I  "  tender  herb"    Deut.   32  :  2  ;    Job, 
:  38 :  27,  and  "-tender  grass,"  2  Sam. 
23 :  4 ;  Prov.  27  :  25  ;  Job,  6  :  5  ;  Ps. 
;  23 :  2,   (margin.)      It   includes,    not 
i  merely  the  grass,  but  the  whole  tribe 
!  of  grasses  just   sprouting  from  the 
ground.     %  The  herb,  etc.,  (lit.)  herb 
seeding-seed.     This  covers,  properly, 
;  all  the  vegetable  world  not  included 
I  in  grasses   and  trees.      They  were 
!  to  be    seed-producing,  and  such  as 
j  are  propagated  by  seed.     But   the 
|  power  so  to  propagate  was  here  given 
j  by  God.     The  three  terms  here  used 
I  answer  to  the  three  great  subdivis- 
|  ions  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 

We  should  expect  this  order  to 
be  followed — that  vegetation  would 
j  clothe  the  earth  before  animals  were 
i  created.  If  some  indications  are 
!  found  in  geological  strata  that  ani- 
!  mals  and  plants  coexisted  from  earli- 


70 


GENESIS. 


(B.C.  4102. 


12  And  the  earth  brought  forth  grass,  and  herb  yielding  seed 
after  his  kind,  and  the  tree  yielding  fruit,  whose  seed  was  in 
itself,  after  his  kind :  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

13  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  third  day. 

14  1"  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  n  lights  in  the  firmament  of 
the  heaven,  to  divide  the  day  from  the  night ;  and  let  them  be 
for  signs,  and  °  for  seasons,  and  for  days,  and  years. 

n  Deut.  4 :  19.    Pa.  74 :  16 ;  136 :  7.    o  Ps.  74 :  17 ;  104 :  18. 


est  times,  there  is  no  disproof  of  a 
previous  period  of  vegetation  alone, 
of  which  no  records  are  extant  except 
in  the  Inspired  history.  The  proof 
from  science  of  the  existence  of  plants 
before  animals  is  inferential  and  still 
may  be  deemed  satisfactory." — Dana. 

We  further  learn,  in  the  next 
chapter,  (ch.  2  :  5,)  that  God  made 
every  plant  of  the  field  before  it  was 
in  the  earth,  and  every  herb  of  the 
field  before  it  grew — that  this  was  not 
spontaneous  growth,  nor  from  nat- 
ural causes,  but  by  the  Divine  com- 
mand, introducing  natural  causes. 

1"  {The)  fruit-tree,  etc.,  rather — 
fruit-tree  yielding,  (lit.,  making,  or 
'producing)  fruit.  The  same  term  is 
used  here  (rendered  yielding,)  as  is 
used  of  God  "making,"  (verse  7.) 
^[  After  his  kind.  This  was  to  be 
the  law,  of  like  producing  like.  And 
this  law,  like  every  other  law  of 
nature,  is  derived  from  the  creative 
power  of  God,  and  dependent  always 
on  His  will.  ^[  Whose  seed.  This  is 
an  explanatory  clause.  The  law  is, 
that  the  plant,  or  tree,  should  have 
the  seed  in  itself—  rather,  in  it — in 
the  fruit,  as  the  element  of  propaga- 
tion ;  and  so  it  should  be  a  principle 
of  self-propagation  upon  the  earth 
by  means  of  the  seed  which  it  has 
in  it.  *[  And  it  was  so.  It  came  to 
pass,  as  God  Almighty  commanded. 
"  He  commanded  and  thev  were  crea- 
ted," (Ps.  148  :  5.)  "  By  this  statement 
we  are  taught  that  each  species  (kind) 
is  permanently  reproductive,  varia- 
ble within  narrow  limits,  incapable 
of  permanent  intermixture  with 
other  species,  and  a  direct  product 
of  creative  power." — Dawson's  Ar- 


chaia,  p.  163.  And  thus  revelation 
and  science  agree. 

12,  13.  And  the  earth  brought 
forth  (lit.)  sprouts,  lierb  seeding  seed 
after  its  kind,  and  tree  producing 
fruit  whose  seed  (was)  in  itself  (in  it) 
after  its  kind  ;  and  God  saw  that  (it 
was)  good.  And  it  was  evening  and 
it  was  morning,  a  third  day. 

Observe. — The  term  "  create  "  is 
not  used  in  reference  to  vegetable 
life — as  this  is  not  life  in  the  higher 
sense  of  conscious  life — and  so  it 
comes  in,  under  the  head  of  matter. 
The  term  bar  a,  which  is  used  in  this 
narrative  only  to  introduce  a  new 
department  of  creation,  does  not, 
therefore,  occur  again,  (after  vs.  1,) 
until  animal  life  is  introduced,  (vs. 
21.)  The  analogy  which  the  first 
three  days'  work  bears  to  the  work 
of  the  last  three  days,  is  remarka- 
ble— the  last  three  perfecting  the 
arrangements  of  the  first  three.  On 
the  first  three  days  were  produced 
the  elements,  and  on  the  last  three, 
the  compound  organisms.  The  first 
and  fourth  days'  work  has  reference 
to  the  light — the  fourth  day  giving 
us  the  luminaries,  or  light-bearers, 
while  the  first  had  given  us  the 
light  itself — and  as  on  the  fifth 
day  we  have  the  birds  and  fishes,  so 
on  the  second,  we  had  the  air  and 
waters.  And  as  the  earth  and  the 
plants  are  arranged  on  the  third 
day,  so  the  creeping  things,  and  cat- 
tle, and  man,  on  the  sixth. 

§  5.    Fourth   Day's  Work— The 
Luminaries.    Ch.  1 :  14-19. 

14.    After    the    earth    was    thua 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


71 


clothed  with  vegetation — the  fields 
covered  with  grass  and  herbage — ■ 
which  had  in  them  also  the  elements 
of  propagation,  God  now  called  forth 
the  two  great  luminaries  for  the 
globe.  *[[  Let  there,  be.  Heb. — Be 
there  luminaries  The  term  here 
rendered  lights  is  not  the  same  as 
before  used,  but  means,  properly, 
light-bearers — properly,  places  of  light 
— receptacles  of  light.  It  would 
seem  that  the  sun  and  moon  had  not 
been  constituted  such  light  bearers 
to  our  earth,  (at  least  in  its  present 
state,)  until  this  fourth  day.  Liter- 
ally it  reads,  "  Be  there  light  bearers," 
etc.  The  same  word  of  command  is 
used  as  in  vs.  3,  "  Be  there  " — let  there 
be — and  then  it  is  added,  "  And  let 
them  be  for  light  bearers  in  the  fir- 
mament of  heaven,"  the  same  phrase 
as  in  the  first  clause — "  to  give  light 
upon  the  earth."  The  clauses  show 
that  here  was  no  original  creation 
of  the  luminaries,  but  an  arrange- 
ment, adjustment  of  them  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  light  upon  the 
earth,  and  for  marking  out  time  and 
seasons,  etc.  The  sun  is  not  in  his  own 
essence,  luminous — though  he  is  con- 
stituted the  chief  depository  and 
source  of  light  to  our  earth,  and  to  all 
the  solar  system.  He  may  not  always 
have  possessed  this  light-giving 
power.  He  is,  in  himself,  a  dark 
mass  like  our  earth,  and  surrounded 
by  two  atmospheres — the  one  near- 
est him  being  like  ours — the  other 
being  phosporescent ;  luminous,  and 
giving  light  and  heat.  The  spots 
on  the  sun's  disc  are  supposed  to  be 
the  dark  body  of  the  sun  seen 
through  openings  in  the  outer  at- 
mosphere occasioned  by  great  com- 
motions in  it.  These  might  even 
lead  to  its  total  obscuration.  ^[  In 
the  firmament,  etc.,  (lit.)  In  the  ex- 
panse— [which  was  already  made, 
see  vs.  6  and  7,]  to  cause  a  division 
between  the  day  and  {between)  the 
night.  These  terms  "  expanse,"  and 
"  heaven,"  previously  applied  to  the 
atmosphere,  are  here  combined  to 
denote  the  more  distant  starry  and 
planetary  heavens.     The  object  of 


these  luminaries  is  here  stated. 
Astronomy  tells  us  how  it  is  by  the 
regular,  diurnal  rotation  of  the  earth 
that  this  division  is  produced.  But 
here  we  find  the  origin  of  this  law 
of  nature — in  the  creative  work  of 
God,  without  which  it  would  have 
had  no  such  province  or  function. 
Some  understand  this  of  the  entire 
clearing  away  of  the  mists  by  which 
the  earth  was  yet  partially  envelop- 
ed— and  that  by  this  means,  the 
luminaries  were  made  visible,  the 
phenomena  only  being  here  des- 
cribed. We  may  suppose  that  the 
sun  was  now  made  a  light-bearer  to 
our  earth  by  the  constitution  of  his 
atmosphere,  or  the  reconstitution  of 
ours  for  this  purpose.  The  solar 
system,  from  "  the  beginning,"  has 
required  the  revolution  of  the  earth 
around  the  sun.  The  sun,  moon 
and  stars  must  have  existed,  along 
with  our  planet,  from  "  the  begin- 
ning," and  were  doubtless  included 
in  the  original  creation,  (ch.  1:1.) 
The  work  of  the  first  day  of  this 
creative  week  was  the  evoking  of  the 
light,  (vs.  5,)  which  may,  in  past 
ages  of  our  planet,  have  shone  upon 
the  earth  prior  to  the  reign  of  the 
chaos,  and  which  is  now  commanded 
to  shine  out  of  darkness.  The  work 
of  the  fourth  day  is  the  manifest 
adjustment  of  these  luminaries  for 
their  natural  work,  as  here  designa- 
ted. Whether  there  was  any  change 
now  made  in  the  velocity  of  the 
earth's  rotation,  or  in  the  obliquity 
of  the  ecliptic  is  not  here  stated. 
These  celestial  phenomena  are  noted 
as  they  may  be  observed  by  the  be- 
holder. Here  is  an  advance  upon 
the  first  days'  work.  Beyond  the 
primary  division  of  time  into  night 
and  day,  marked  by  the  diurnal  ro- 
tation of  the  earth  on  its  axis,  here, 
is  the  further  division  which  is 
marked  by  the  revolving  of  the 
earth  around  the  sun,  which  is  "  for 
signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days, 
and  for  years."  Such  a  manifesta- 
tion of  the  planetary  heavens  and 
of  their  relations  to  earthly  affairs 
had  not  been  necessary  until  now 


72 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


15  And  let  them  be  for  lights  in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven 
to  give  light  upon  the  earth :  and  it  was  so. 

16  And  God  P  made  two  great  lights ;  the  greater  light  to  rule 
the  day,  and  <l  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night :  he  made  r  the 
stars  also. 

17  And  God  set  them  in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven  to  give 
light  upon  the  earth. 

18  And  to  s  rule  over  the  day,  and  over  the  night,  and  to  di- 
vide the  light  from  the  darkness :  and  God  saw  that  it  teas  good. 

19  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  fourth  day. 

p  Ps.  136  :  7,  S,  9  ;  148  :  3,  5.     q  Ps.  8:3.     r  Job  3S:  7.     s  Jer.  31 :  35. 


that  animal  life  is  to  be  created. 
*f[  For  signs.  The  term  means,  1st, 
indentations  or  marks  ;  2nd,  portents, 
tokens.  Here  it  means  indications 
of  things  belonging  to  the  order  of 
nature — signs  for  the  intelligent  be- 
holder who  is  soon  to  be  brought 
upon  the  stage.  They  are  to  servo 
as  the  nai  aral  chronometer  of  man- 
kind. The  mariner  and  the  astron- 
omer are  to  take  their  observations 
of  them  all  along  the  ages.  The 
year  is  marked  by  the  sun's  course. 
So  the  wtather  is  indicated  by  the 
aspects  of  the  sun  and  moon — the 
coming  en  of  heat,  or  cold,  or 
storms.  So,  also,  of  portents  it  is 
said,  "There  shall  be  signs  in  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars,"  Luke  21  :  25. 
*j[  Seasons.  The  seasons  of  the  year 
— as  spring,  summer,  autumn,  and 
winter — the  season  for  sowing,  prun- 
ing, reaping.  So,  also,  appointed 
seasons,  or  set  times,  are  regulated 
and  den  >ted  by  these  heavenly 
bodies.  The  Rabbis  explain  this  as 
referring  to  their  festivals.  But 
though  the  same  term  is  used  by  the 
Jews  of  their  set  times  for  feasts, 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
these  luminaries  were  here  divinely 
appointed  and  set  apart  for  that  use. 
"  The  moon  and  stars  to  rule  by 
night."  They  were  to  serve,  also, 
for  days  and  years.  This  is  only  an 
amplification  of  the  idea.  They 
were  to  serve  for  marking  days  and 
years — firing  their  limits,  and  regu- 
lating, by  their  motions  and  influ- 
ence, the  progress  and  divisions  of 


time.  "  He  appointed  the  moon  for 
seasons.  The  sun  knoweth  his  going 
down,"  Ps.  104:19,  20.  See  Job 
38  :  33. 

15.  This  verse  only  farther  defines 
the  office  of  these  luminaries — to 
give  light  upon  the  earth.  ^[  And 
it  teas  so.  "He  spake  and  it  was 
done ;  He  commanded,  and  it  stood 
fast." 

16.  And  God  made.  (Heb. —  Yaas.) 
Not  the  same  term  as  "  created." 
Rather,  He  formed,  fitted — adjust- 
ed. *[[  Great  lights.  Lit. — The  two 
great  luminaries,  (the  sun  and  the 
moon,)  the  great  luminary  for  ruling 
the  day,  and  the  small  luminary  for 
ruling  the  night,  and  the  stars.  Here, 
as  in  former  instances,  the  very 
things  just  commanded  are  noted  as 
performed.  The  sun,  the  great  light 
bearer,  was  made — {set,  constituted) 
for  ruling  the  day — to  regulate  it ; 
always  marking  the  day-dawn  by  his 
rising,  and  the  close  of  the  day  by 
his  setting.  ^[  And  the  stars.  Our 
translators  have  here  introduced  the 
words,  "  he  made."  But  the  original 
shows  that  this  last  clause  stands 
immediately  connected  with  the  pre- 
ceding, in  the  sense — He  made  the 
small  luminary  and  the  stars  to  rule 
the  night,  or,  as  it  is  elsewhere  ex- 
pressed, "  the  moon  and  stars  to  rule 
by  night,"  (the  same  terms  being 
used  in  the  last  clause  as  here,)  Ps. 
136  :  7-9.  See,  also,  Jer.  31  :  35,  36. 
Or,  as  Benisch  translates,  the  "  lesser 
light  to  rule  the  night  and  (to  rule) 
the  stars."     We  have  supposed  that 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


73 


20  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly  the 
moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly  above  the 
earth  in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven. 


the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  in- 
cluded in  the  original  creation  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  "  in  the  be- 
ginning," (Gen.  1  : 1,) — and  that  they 
are  only  now  set,  or  constituted,  in 
the  relation  of  light-bearers  to  our 
earth.  This,  also,  accords  with  all 
that  science  finds  out  from  its  ma- 
turest  investigations.  "An  exami- 
nation of  the  visual  organs  of  the 
earliest  animal  remains,  proves  that 
light,  as  far  as  it  can  he  traced  hack 
in  time,  was  of  the  same  nature  and 
properties  as  that  which  is  now  shed 
down  upon  the  earth." 

§  6.  Fifth  Day's  Work — Animal 
Life — Fishes  and  Birds — Cre- 
ation of  Great  Reptiles.  Ch. 
1 :  20-23. 

20.  We  come  now  to  that  portion 
of  the  creative  work  which  geology 
claims  to  investigate  with  most  mi- 
nuteness. Until  the  fifth  day  we 
have  had  only  the  lowest  form  of 
life,  (in  the  vegetable  world,)  and 
not  as  yet  any  animated,  conscious 
life.  This  forms  a  new  and  advanced 
department  of  the  creative  work, 
and  hence  we  find  the  term  for  the 
original  act  of  creation  used  in  verse 
21  as  in  verse  1.  It  would  seem 
that  geology  does  not  decide  clearly 
as  to  the  priority  of  vegetables  or 
animals.  But  we  see  plainly  the 
important  use  served  by  vegetables 
in  rendering  the  atmosphere  fit  for 
respiration  of  animals,  as  well  as  for 
the  supply  of  food.  All  the  earth's 
physical  features  were  perfected  on 
the  fourth  day,  and  immediately  be- 
fore the  creation  of  animals.  "  Ge- 
ology produces  amongst  the  earliest 
fossil  remains  nearly  as  many  speci- 
mens of  animal  life,  (in  its  lowest 
forms  at  least,)  zoophytes,  mollusca, 
etc.,  as  it  does  of  vegetable  life. 
Also,  many  forms  of  fishes — many, 
even  of  the  most  perfect,  occur  in 

vol.  I. — 4. 


strata  far  below  those  which  contain 
the  great  sea  monsters  and  birds, 
and  which  are  supposed  to  answer 
to  the  '  fifth  day.'  Some  refer  this 
to  the  deluge.  Others  suppose  an 
unrecorded,  but  highly  probable, 
fecundity  of  the  primeval  waters, 
producing  the  lower  forms  of  animal 
life  before  terrestrial  vegetation.  It 
is  held  that  marine  vegetation,  ap- 
proaching to  the  animal  life,  may 
have  preceded  the  terrestrial."  But 
the  better  solution  is  that  we  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  record  of  the 
rocks  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
Mosaic  account.  These  geological 
remains  belong  to  a  prior  state  of 
the  globe,  of  which  we  have  here  no 
account  except  the  general  statement 
in  verse  1.  And  it  is  not  our  busi- 
ness, therefore,  to  harmonize  the 
two  records,  one  of  which  relates  to 
a  far  anterior  period  of  the  earth. 
The  earth  that  was  (ina,)  "void" 
is  now  to  be  peopled.  Here  the  Al 
mighty  Creator  proceeds  to  com- 
mand into  existence  the  immense 
tribes  that  swarm  in  the  sea  and  in 
the  air.  Next  to  the  last  step  in  the 
progress  of  the  creative  work  is  this. 
The  phrase  here  rendered  the  mov- 
ing creature,  is  more  exactly  the 
swarming,  living  creature.  (Jew. 
Fam.  Bib.)— prolific  creature.  It  is — 
Let  the  waters  swarm  icith  swarming, 
living  creature.  The  noun  corres- 
ponds with  tho  verb  here  rendered, 
"  bring  forth  abundantly."  So  Mil- 
ton has  it,  "  Let  the  waters  generate 
reptile  with  spawn  abundant."  It 
is  known  that  the  finny  tribes  are 
immensely  prolific,  and  that  the  eggs 
of  fish,  called  spawn,  produce  vast 
multitudes.  Thus  the  roe  of  a  cod- 
fish contains  nine  millions  of  eggs ; 
of  a  flounder  nearly  a  million  and  a 
half;  of  a  mackerel  half  a  million, 
etc.  So,  also,  in  regard  to  birds.  A 
flock  of  petrels  has  been  seen  that 
was  computed  to  number  one  huu- 


74 


GENESIS. 


[B.  0.  4102. 


21  And  u  God  created  great  whales,  and  every  living  creature 
that  inoveth,  which  the  waters  brought  forth  abundantly  after 
their  kind,  and  every  winged  fowl  after  his  kind:  and  God  saw 
that  it  was  good. 


uCh. 


20;  7:14;  8:19.     Ps.  104: 


dred  and  fifty  millions.  The  passen- 
ger pigeon  of  North  America  has 
been  seen  in  flocks  a  mile  broad  that 
took  four  hours  in  passing,  at  the 
rate  of  a  mile  a  minute,  calculated 
to  contain  two  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  millions  of  birds.  The 
Psalmist  exclaims,  "  So  is  this  great 
and  wide  sea,  wherein  are  things 
creeping  (swarming)  innumerable, 
both  small  and  great  beasts,  (crea- 
tures," Ps.  104:25.  The  term  wbs, 
(nephes7i,)  here  first  occurs.  It  is  de- 
rived from  a  root  which  means  to 
breathe — from  which  it  naturally 
comes  to  mean  life,  which  is  indica- 
ted by  breath — also,  creature  and 
body,  or  person  i.  e.  who  breathes. 
Taken  with  its  kindred  term,  (hayah,) 
signifying  living — it  means  an  ani- 
mated creature,  (vs.  21,  ch.  2  :  19,  etc.) 
It  denotes  the  vital  principle  not 
only  in  man,  but  also  in  brutes.  It 
is  often  in  our  version  rendered 
"soul," — more  commonly  meaning 
person,  sslf  It  occurs  about  seven 
hundred  times  in  the  Old  Testament. 
(See  vs.  24,  notes.)  *[  And  fowl 
(flying  thing,)  may  fly.  Or,  And  let 
fowl  fly.  The  term  here  rendered 
''fowl"  includes  all  flying  insects, 
Lev.  11  :  20.  In  the  next  verse  it 
is  "  every  flying  thing  that  hath 
wings."  The  idea  is  not  that  the 
fowl  are  to  be  produced  by  the  wa- 
ters, (see  ch.  2  :  19,)  as  might  seem 
from  the  addition  of  the  word 
"  that "  by  our  translators — printed 
in  italics,  as  not  being  in  the  original. 
f  Abode  (lit.  upon)  the  earth — (upon 
the  face  of)  in  front  of  the  expanse 
of  heaven.  This  designates  the 
respective  elements  in  which  fishes 
and  birds  were  to  live  and  move. 
The  reading — "in  the  open  firma- 
ment "  p-ives  the  sense.    The  phrase 


(■^isVy)  is  often  read  "before,"  "in 
front  of,"  "in  presence  of" 

21.  Here  follows,  as  before,  the 
creative  act  ensuing  upon  the  crea- 
tive word.  In  the  order  of  nature, 
the  one  would  seem  to  follow  the 
other,  of  course.  But  really  in  the 
order  of  time  the  creative  word  was 
the  creative  act.  "By  faith  Ave 
understand  that  the  worlds  were 
framed  by  the  word  of  God."  "  He 
spake,  and  it  was  done."  *ft  Created. 
This  act  of  creation  marks  the  sec- 
ond stage  of  the  creative  work,  and 
here  the  second  time  in  the  narra- 
tive occurs  the  use  of  the  term  bar  a. 
As  the  first  department  of  the  crea- 
tive work  was  that  of  matter,  (vs.  1,) 
so  here  is  the  department  of  anima- 
ted, conscious  life.  The  first  act 
which  thus  results  in  life  is  here  dis- 
tinguished from  the  foregoing  work 
which  had  reference  to  inanimate 
matter.  ^[  Great  ichales.  Lit. — the 
great  reptiles.  The  noun  here  used 
is  used  of  the  serpent,  Exod.  7:9, 
10,  12  ;  Deut.  32  :  33  ;  Ps.  91  :  13  ; 
also,  of  the  crocodile,  Isa.  51:9;  Neh. 
2  :  13  ;  Ps.  74  :  13  ;  and  of  sea  mon- 
sters, Job  7  :  12  ;  Ps.  148  :  7.  The 
term  seems  sometimes  to  mean  jack- 
als. See  Mai.  1  :  3,  where  the  word  is 
than — (tannoth,  pi.)  akin  to  the  term 
Lev'mthan.  The  Jewish  Fam.  Bible 
!  reads — the  great,  huge  creatures.  It 
!  may  be  rendered  the  great  monsters. 
And  (created)  every  living  creature 
that  creepeth,  which  the  waters 
brought  forth  abundantly.  These 
two  classes  of  the  sir  arming  crea- 
tures mentioned  collectively  in  the 
previous  verse,  are  here  specified. 
The  term  rendered  ichales,  is  not  to 
be  understood  of  the  class  commonly 
known  as  such,  but  literally  means 
the  extended,  or  long  stretched — which 


B.  C,  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


73 


22  And  God  blessed  them,  saying,  w  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply, 
and  iill  the  waters  in  the  seas,  and  let  fowl  multiply  in  the  earth. 

23  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  fifth  day. 

w  ch.  8 :  17. 


may  refer  either  to  size  or  number, 
but  probably  to  size,  f  That  moveth. 
The  verb  is  here  used  which  corres- 
ponds with  "  creeping  thing," — and 
not  the  same  with  "moving  crea- 
ture," vs.  20.  It  refers  to  a  class  of 
the  swarming,  or  prolific  creatures. 
The  microscope  shows  that  there  are  I 
beings  with  perfect  organs  of  nutri- 1 
tion,  locomotion,  and  reproduction,  I 
a  million  of  which  would  not  exceed  | 
in  bulk  one  -grain  of  sand — eight 
millions  of  which  might  be  com-  j 
pressed  within  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed !  Others  so  minute  that  five 
hundred  millions  of  them  could  live 
in  a  drop  of  water.  The  polishing 
slate,  named  after  Ehrenberg,  is 
formed  of  infusoria,  each  of  which 
when  living,  was  covered  with  a 
silicious  shell,  and  of  these  creatures 
forty-one  thousand  millions  are  con- 
tained in  a  cubic  inch.  There  are 
animalcules  of  which  a  cubic  inch 
would  contain  a  million  millions. 
^[  Which  the  waters,  etc.  It  was  no 
less  the  Divine  creative  act,  though 
it  was  done  in  making  the  waters 
bring  forth  abundantly.  *[  Winged 
fold,  Created  every  foicl  of  wing. 

22.  Blessed  them,  and  said.  The 
blessing  follows  in  the  command. 
God's  commands  are  blessings.  His 
obligations  are  golden  ties.  The  high- 
est privilege  of  creatures  is  to  be 
bound  fast  to  God.  The  first  bless- 
ing pronounced  on  earth  is  this — 
upon  the  living  tribes — and  the  Di- 
vine command  became  to  them  the 
law  of  their  being.  God,  by  His 
creative  word,  gave  them  such  power 
to  reproduce  their  several  species, 
vss.  24,  25.  ^[  Mil  the  waters  in  the 
seas.  The  waters  are  here  spoken  of 
as  in  the  seas — and  the  finny  tribes 
as  in  the  waters — the  waters  filling 


the  beds  depths  and  shores  of  the 
seas.  *[  And  let  fowl  multiply — that 
is,  every  winged  creature,  including 
winged  insects. 

23.  This  day  closes,  as  the  preced- 
ing days  had  done,  by  the  coming  on 
of  evening,  and  the  ushering  in  of  a 
new  morning.  Some  understand 
that  this  period  of  creation  is  tbat 
which  is  known  by  geologists  as  the 
age  of  reptiles.  Fossils  are  found  of 
gigantic  reptiles,  such  as  the  icthyo- 
saur,  whose  remains  are  found  thirty 
feet  long,  having  the  head  of  a  croc- 
odile, the  body  of  a  fish,  and  the 
general  form  of  a  lizard ;  and  the 
plesiosaur,  with  a  long  neck,  like  the 
body  of  a  serpent,  and  the  iguano- 
don,  of  lizard  shape,  some  sixty  feet 
long,  and  it  is  held  by  some  that 
these  belong  to  the  great  "  whale?" 
or  tanninirn,  dragons,  monsters  of 
this  period. — {McDonald,  p.  281.) 
The  facts  claimed  by  geology  are 
held  to  be  thus  in  remarkable  keep- 
ing with  the  Mosaic  account.  And 
it  has  been  suggested  that  "  no  geol- 
ogist, with  the  facts  of  his  favorite 
science  before  him,  could,  in  so  brief 
a  compass,  furnish  so  full  and  accu- 
rate a  description  as  that  of  Moses 
here,  written  long  before  geology 
began  its  explorations,  or  was  ever 
dreamed  of  as  a  science." — {McDon- 
ald.) We  may  understand,  however, 
that  these  gigantic  tribes  of  geology 
were  altogether  prior  to  the  Mosaic 
account,  and  were  buried  in  their 
rocky  gravel  before  the  Adamic  cre- 
ation of  which  Moses  here  tells  us 
— that  they  were  animal  tribes  be- 
longing to  a  previous  state  of  our 
earth,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with 
man,  and  were  not  such  as  were 
suited  to  the  human  period. — (See 
Introduction) 


76 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


24  %  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  crea- 
tare  after  his  kind,  cattle,  and  creeping  thing,  and  beast  of  the 
earth  after  his  kind  :  and  it  was  so. 


§  7.  Sixth  Day's  Work — Beasts — 
Creation  of  Man.    Ch.  1 :  24-31. 

24.  We  note  here  a  still  further 
advance  in  the  creative  work.  From 
the  plant  there  was  an  advance  to 
the  lowest  forms  of  animal  life  in 
"  the  swarming  creatures,"  and  from 
these  again  to  the  sea  monsters  and 
reptiles,  and  feathered  tribes.  But 
the  dry  land  was  still  untenanted  by 
its  proper  races.  The  creation  of  ani- 
mals stretches  over  two  days.  And 
here  on  the  sixth  we  have  the  land 
animals,  and  above  all,  man  is  crea- 
ted as  the  highest  type  of  animal  life 
— and  the  lord  of  the  lower  animals 
distinguished  by  the  image  of  God. 
This  is  held  by  some  to  be  the  age  of 
great  mammalian  quadrupeds — the 
third  and  last  of  the  great  geological 
periods.  Geology  testifies  that  man  is 
the  latest  of  the  animal  tribes,  and 
that  his  introduction  among  the  ten- 
ants of  the  earth  is  of  recent  date.  "  It 
is  only  in  the  latest  diluvial  deposits 
of  the  tertiary  period — the  newest 
on  the  earth's  crust  that  the  remains 
of  man  are  to  be  found."  ^f  And 
God  said — As  before,  it  is  "  by  the 
word  of  God."  %  Let  the  earth 
'bring  forth  living  creature,  sv.h  »^S. 
Elsewhere  rendered  "  living  soul," — 
meaning  simply  animated  being.  The 
term  animal  indicates  it.  **[  Beast. 
Collectively,  the  ruminating  animals 
— such  as  feed  on  grasses — (srcrjs, 
from  which  behemoth.)  *l  Creeping 
thing.  The  term  here  used  is  from 
a  verb,  meaning  properly  to  tread — 
referring  rather  to  the  smaller  kinds 
of  land  animals,  ^f  Beeists  of  the 
earth.  Lit. — living  thing  of  the 
earth.  Jew.  Fam.  Bib. — animal  of 
the  earth,  or  field,  (wild  beasts,)  mean- 
ing the  various  classes  of  beasts  of 
prey.  Some  suppose  that  these  were 
not  at  the  creation  such,  in  their 
habit,  but  only  of  a  class  more  vig- 


orous and  less  adapted  to  man's  do- 
minion than  others.  But  they  were 
probably  so  created  ;  because  carniv- 
orous animals  require  a  different 
structure  from  others.  Such  are 
found,  also,  among  the  fossil  remains 
of  pre-Adamic  animals. 

It  is  alleged  by  some  skeptics  that 
because  the  phrase  here  rendered 
" living  creature"  is  in  ch.  2  :  7,  ap- 
plied to  man,  and  rendered  living 
soul,  we  must  understand  that  a  cre- 
ation, or  formation  of  the  human 
species  out  of  the  earth  is  here  re- 
corded. A'nd  that  this  refers  to  races 
of  men  as  existing  before  the  crea- 
tion of  Adam.  But  this  does  not  at 
all  follow.  All  the  animated  tribes 
are  called  "  living  creatures,"  or 
"  living  soul,"  as  man,  also,  is  an 
animal.  It  would  only  show  that 
animals — animated  creatures,  are 
here  referred  to,  whereas,  after  this, 
and  as  a  higher  step  in  the  creation, 
man,  who  is  also  an  animal,  was  cre- 
ated, whose  characteristic  it  was  that 
he  was  made  in  the  image  of  God. 


And  in  ch.  2 


it  is  recorded  that 


"  God  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life," — a  high  distinction 
— and  that  man  became  "  a  living 
creature "  such  as  this,  having  a 
higher  life  inbreathed  by  God.  If 
there  were  now,  or  should  ever  be, 
any  ground  for  believing  that  any 
animal  most  nearly  approaching  to 
man  in  form  and  physical  constitu- 
tion ever  existed  prior  to  Adam,  it 
would  still  be  altogether  a  different 
being  from  man,  whose  distinction 
is  the  image  of  God,  and  the  "  breath 
of  lives  "  inbreathed  by  God.  But  it 
is  enough  to  say  that  the  geological 
record  is  not  so  clear  as  the  Scrip- 
tural one,  and  does  not  need  to  be. 
The  animals  here  created  are  such 
as  belong  to  existing  tribes,  made  for 
this  human  period — after  those  mon- 
sters of  the  past  geological  eras  had 
perished  from  the  earth. 


B.  C.  4103.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


77 


25  Ancl  God  made  the  beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind,  and 
cattle  after  their  kind,  and  every  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth  after  his  kind :  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

26  ^f  And  God  said,  xLet  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our 
likeness :  and  y  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all 
the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth. 


x  ch.  5:1;  9:6;  Ps.  100  :  3  ;  Eccl.  7  :  29 ;   Acts  17 


23,  29  ;  1  Cor.  11  :  7.     y  ch.  9  :  2 


25.  Made,  (fashioned  )not  the  same 
term  as  created.  Here  the  order  of 
the  three  classes  is  different — the 
beast  of  prey  coming  first,  and  the 
creeping  thing,  or  smaller  classes  of 
animals  coming  last.  ^[  After  his 
kind.  It  is  important  to  observe 
that  we  have  here  the  creation  of 
distinct  species,  which  are  to  preserve 
each  its  kind,  and  so  maintain  a  per- 
manent likeness  to  its  original  type. 
This  is  the  fundamental  lav/  of  the 
creation.  Variations  in  external 
forms  are  produced  by  certain  agen- 
cies— but  these  varieties  are  only 
superficial.  Nothing  is  here  known 
of  "the  transmutation  of  species, 
equivocal  generation,  or  creation  by 
natural  laws,"  so  much  talked  of  by 
certain  in  our  day.  Though  the 
waters  and  earth  are  commanded  to 
bring  forth  their  tenants,  yet,  in  re- 
cording the  fact  it  is  distinctly  stated 
that  God  made  them,  not  the  waters 
nor  the  earth.  The  permanence  of 
species  in  opposition  to  any  notions 
of  their  transmutation,  is  shown  by 
the  fact  cited  by  Prof.  Agassiz,  that 
in  the  coral  reefs  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  which,  according  to  his  cal- 
culation, have  been  seventy  thou- 
sand years  in  forming,  no  change  has 
occurred  in  the  species  of  these  coral 
insects  themselves,  whose  skeletons 
form  these  curious  reefs. — (Methods 
of  Study,  p.  190.) 

§  7.  a.     Creation  of  Man.     Ch. 
1 :  26,  27. 

23.  The  crowning  work  of  the  cre- 
ation is  now  to  be  performed.     Ac- 


cordingly, to  indicate  how  superior 
it  is  to  all  the  foregoing,  and  to  show 
that  all  the  preceding  work  of  the 
six  days  had  been  only  as  a  prepar- 
ation for  man's  residence  on  the 
earth,  the  Creator  says  not  as  be- 
fore, Let  there  be  man,  but  "  Let  us 
make  man."  This  form  of  expres- 
sion conveys  the  idea  of  counsel  and 
agreement — and  suggests  that  the 
work  was  done  in  wisdom  and  love. 
It  is  not  at  all  .inappropriate  lan- 
guage when  we  know  that  there  are 
three  Persons  in  the  Godhead. 
Then,  at  once,  we  can  understand 
the  meaning  of  the  terms.  And 
though  this  plural  form  of  the  verb 
is  not,  in  itself,  reason  sufficient  for 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  yet,  ta- 
ken with  other  and  more  direct  pas- 
sages, it  is  strongly  confirmatory  of 
it.  See  ch.  3  :  22  ;  11:7;  Isa.  6  : 8. 
He  was  to  be  God's  representative 
on  earth,  clothed  with  dominion 
over  all  the  inferior  tribes.  *j[  Man. 
This  is  the  generic  term  for  the 
human  race.  It  is  sometimes  used 
with  the  article  to  denote  the  man 
Adam — the  first  of  the  human  fam- 
ily. In  the  second  and  third  chap- 
ters it  occurs  in  this  sense  nineteen 
times.  The  term  is  derived  by  some 
from  the  word  which  means  red, 
either  because  of  his  redness  of  com- 
plexion, (which  is  not  likely,)  or  be- 
cause he  was  taken  from  the  ground, 
and  accordingly  the  kindred  term 
means  ground.  Josephus  so  expla  ins 
it.  Ant.B.l.  G.l.  Others,  more  re- 
cently, derive  it  from  the  Arabic 
verb,  which  means  to  bring  together, 
to  bind,  or  hold  together.    (See  Hoff- 


GENESIS. 


[B.C.  4102. 


27  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  z  in  the  image  of 
God  created  lie  him  ;  a  male  and  female  created  he  them. 

z  1  Cor.  11  :  7.     a  ch.  5  :  2;  Mai.  2  :  15;   Matt.  19  :  4;   Mark  10  :  G. 


man,  Art.  Adam,  Herzog's  Cyclope- 
dia ;)  as  our  term  husband  is  from 
houseband,  and  conveys  a  similar 
idea.  The  old  Heb.  verb  means  to 
bring  together — and  thence  to  compact 
— and  man  here  is  said  to  have  been 
made  in  the  likeness  of  God.  Hence 
the  term  Adam  may  mean  image,  or 
likeness.  The  second  Adam  is  said 
to  be  the  express  image  of  the  Fa- 
ther's person — and  He  is  the  Man  ! 
Behold  the  man,  who  is  the  "  Son  of 
Man" — the  God-man !  2  Cor.  4:4; 
Col.  1  :  15  ;  Heb.  1:3;  Rom.  8  :  29  ; 
Ps.  80  :  17.  T  In  our  image,  Er?y. 
A  distinction  has  been  urged  by 
some  between  the  "  image  "  and  the 
"likeness."  But  in  vs.  27,  imme- 
diately following,  only  one  of  the 
terms  is  used,  and  plainly  as  includ- 
ing both.  "  So  God  created  man  in 
His  (own)  image."  They  who  make 
the  distinction  hold  that  the  image 
denotes  the  natural  attributes,  and 
the  "  likeness  "  the  moral  attributes, 
or  conformity  to  the  Divine  nature. 
So  some  of  the  early  fathers.  It  is 
expressly  on  this  ground  of  the  Di- 
vine image  in  man  at  his  creation, 
that  the  murder  of  a  man  was  to  be 
punished  with  death  ;  "for  in  the 
image  of  God  made  He  man,"  ch. 
9  :  6.  This  image  did  not  consist  in 
an  erect  posture — nor  merely  in  an 
immortal  future,  nor  in  intellect 
alone.  It  consisted  of  high  moral 
qualities  mainly.  These  are  desig- 
nated in  the  account  we  have  of  the 
new  creation,  whose  object  it  is  to 
restore  man  to  his  original  relations 
to  God.  With  a  reference  to  this 
passage  we  find  that  the  "  image  of 
God"  consists  in  knowledge,  right- 
eousness, and  true  holiness,  Col.  3  :  10  ; 
Eph.  4  :  24 ;  Eccl.  7  :  29,  and  that  man 
was  to  represent  (shadow  forth)  God 
on  the  earth.  Pres.  Edwards  says : 
"  There  is  a  twofold  imago  of  God  in 
man — His  moral  or  spiritual  image 
which  is  His  holiness,  that  is,  the 


image  of  God's  moral  excellency, 
(which  image  was  lost  by  the  Fail,) 
and  God's  natural  image,  consisting 
in  man's  reason  and  understanding, 
his  natural  ability  and  dominion  over 
the  creatures,  which  is  the  image  of 
God's  natural  attribute."  Accord- 
ingly, man  wears  still  a  memorial  in 
so  far  of  this  lost  dignity,  as  that 
the  murderer  of  man  is  to  be  visited 
with  capital  punishment,  ch.  9:6.  In 
the  high  moral  department  the  image 
of  God  was  lost  by  the  Fall,  or  so 
far  defaced  as  to  bear  only  the  faint- 
est reminder  of  it.  "  The  very  mind 
and  conscience  are  defiled," — "  hav- 
ing the  understanding  darkened." 
Accordingly  the  ground  on  which 
murder  is  summarily  visited  with 
condign  punishment  is  rather  what 
man  was  by  his  creation  than  what 
he  is  by  his  Fall.  "  For  in  the  image 
of  God  made  He  man."  ^[  Let  them 
have  dominion.  Not  only  the  man, 
but  man,  {mankind,)  is  here  contem- 
plated. The  individual  first  pair  we 
have  referred  to  in  detail  in  ch.  2. 
His  posterity  are  included  in  the 
grant.  The  race  of  man  was  to 
have  dominion  over  the  earth,  and 
over  every  department  of  the  animal 
creation.  Doubtless  this  dominion 
was  impaired  by  the  Fall — so  that 
when  man  rebelled  against  his  right- 
ful lord  and  sovereign,  the  lorv'er 
tribes  rebelled  against  him.  Fish, 
fowl,  cattle,  and  every  thing  that 
creepeth  (moveth,  vs.  28,)  are  here 
named — as  well  as  the  earth  itself. 
He  was  to  be  monarch  of  the  earth, 
and  to  possess  and  use  it  for  his  own 
benefit,  and  for  God's  glory.  Ana- 
lyze Ps.  8,  "  Behold  the  Man,"  in 
whom  its  highest  idea  is  fulfilled — 
Jesus  Christ. 

27.  Created.  The  creative  work 
of-  God  reaches  now  its  highest  de- 
partment. We  have  had  conscious 
life  in  the  animal  tribes  (v.  21,)  as  an 
advance  beyond  the  mere  vegetable 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


79 


being,  and  now  we  have  life  and 
spirit.  To  mark  this  new  stage  of 
the  creative  work  we  have  the  orig- 
inal creative  term  used.  It  is  that 
found  in  vs.  1  and  vs.  21,  and  differs 
from  that  used  in  vs.  26,  where  the 
teriu  "  make  "  is  that  often  used  in 
the  preceding  narrative,  and  in  the 
fourth  commandment,  and  which 
means  rather  to  form,  or  fashion. 
Man  was  formed  out  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground,  so  far  as  his  frame  is 
concerned.  Yet  he  was  also  "crea- 
ted "  in  his  highest  qualities  of  mind 
and  spirit,  by  which  he  is  chiefly 
distinguished  from  the  lower  animal 
tribes.  Hence  in  ch.  3  :  3  both  terms 
are  used.  Yet  in  Gen.  9 :  6  that 
milder  term  is  used  of  this  making 
man  in  the  Divine  image.  The 
Sam.  Vers,  has  it,  "  So  God  created 
and  formed  man."  Jerus.  Targ.,  "  So 
the  word  of  Jehovah  created  man." 
The  Arab.,  "  So  God  created  Adam." 
This  creation  in  the  Divine  image 
is  a  fact  so  important  as  to  be  re- 
peated, and  it  is  thought  by  some 
that  the  fourfold  repetition  in  the 
two  verses  is  intensive,  and  the  same 
as  to  say,  in  the  image  of  God  and 
none  other.  ^[  Man.  Lit. — the  man, 
definitely  referring  to  the  individual 
Adam — "in  the  image  of  God  crea- 
ted He  him,"  (in  the  singular,  mas- 
culine,)— meaning  that  hero  ^  first, 
only  one  human  beir.^,  ,ae  male,  was 
created.  But  immediately  the  state- 
ment is  made  so  as  to  show  that,  at 
that  time,  there  was  a  plurality  of 
persons  created — that  He  "created 
man,  male  and  female,"  two  persons 
in  one — as  the  woman  was  taken 
out  of  the  man — and  in  the  two  sexes, 
distinguished  as  "male  and  female." 
So  they  were  created  and  not  other- 
wise, as  it  may  be  read,  "  a  male  and 
a  female  created  Re  them."  So  in 
ch.  5  : 1,  2,  it  is  clearly  implied  that 
only  one  pair  was  created,  and  that 
this  pair  propagated  the  human  spe- 
cies by  generation,  and  brought 
forth  children  of  the  same  form  with 
that  which  they  received  at  the  crea- 
tion. 

The  materialistic  spirit  refers  the 


production  of  man  to  certain  chem- 
ical processes  of  nature,  working  out 
the  hidden  seeds  of  organic  life 
which  the  earth  was  anciently  sup- 
posed to  enclose  within  herself. 
Man,  therefore,  is  said  to  be  only  a 
higher  species  of  monkey,  and  hence 
to  have  had  his  origin  in  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  where  the  highest  spe- 
cies of  monkeys  existed.  The  mon- 
keys are  held  by  these  philosophers 
to  be  the  parents  or  ancestors  of  the 
Negroes,  and  the  Negroes  of  the  Ma- 
lays, and  so  on  to  the  highest  type 
of  man,  the  Caucasian.  Nay,  more, 
man  is  held  by  these  theorists  to 
have  passed  up  from  a  fish  to  a  rep 
tile,  and  thence  to  a  bird,  and  so  on 
to  an  ape,  and  thence  upward  to  man- 
kind. But  this  relationship  cannot 
be  proved.  Gradation  in  God's  cre- 
ative work  is  mistaken  for  natural 
descent,  and  the  utmost  that  is  at- 
tained by  such  empty  and  ignorant 
theorizing  is  the  satisfaction,  if  it  be 
such,  to  the  authors,  of  having  found 
their  paternity  in  the  ape !  Some 
who  make  man  to  be  a  development 
from  the  lowest  tribes  of  creation, 
make  "  his  thoughts  to  be  the  pro- 
duct of  oxidized  coal  and  phosphor- 
escent fat — make  his  will  to  depend 
on  the  swelling  of  the  fibres,  and  the 
contact  of  different  substances  in  the 
brain — and  his  emotions  the  move- 
ments of  electric  currents  in  the 
nerves."  So  that  crime  and  murder 
are  referred  to  a  dislocation  of  a 
brain  fibre.  Hence  the  greatest  re- 
gard is  had  for  criminals — they  must 
be  sent  to  hospitals  and  not  to  pris- 
ons, to  the  physician  and  not  to  the 
judge — and  even  murder  is  thus  the 
result  of  an  unfortunate  brain  struc- 
ture, which  ought  not  to  be  capitally 
punished.  Thus,  by  such  a  vile 
falsity,  all  moral  sense  and  responsi- 
bility are  denied  along  with  the  very 
nature  and  essence  of  man. — (See 
Kalisch,  p.  29.) 

Agassiz  says,  "  It  is  my  belief  that 
naturalists  are  chasing  a  phantom 
in  their  search  after  some  material 
gradation  among  created  beings  by 
which  the  whole  animal  kingdom 


80 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


may  have  been  derived  by  successive 
development  from  a  germ  or  germs." 
And  again,  "  the  resources  of  Deity 
cannot  be  so  meagre  that  in  order  to 
create  a  human  being  endowed  with 
reason,  He  must  change  a  monkey 
into  a  man." — Methods  of  Study,  p.  4. 

And  we  may  add,  this  in  itself 
would  be  quite  as  miraculous  as  the 
creation  of  man  out  of  the  dust, 
according  to  the  Biblical  account. 

^[  Male  and  female.  This  is  the 
general  statement  of  which  we  have 
the  fuller  detail  in  ch.  2,  narrating 
the  formation  of  man  out  of  the  dust, 
and  of  the  woman  out  of  the  man, 
in  connexion,  also,  with  the  prepar- 
ation of  Eden,  and  man's  location  in 
it,  (ch.  2.)  This  is  the  same  as  is 
recorded  in  regard  to  the  former  cre- 
ations, only  in  a  different  form  of 
speech,  that  man  was  made  after  his 
kind,  etc.  We  have  here  the  simple 
statement  that  God  created  the  man, 
individual,  yet  it  was  as  the  root  of 
the  human  race, "  male  and  female  cre- 
ated He  them."  In  ch.  2  the  individ- 
ual man  is  more  particularly  spoken 
of,  and  the  more  detailed  account  is 
given.  It  might  seem  from  the  nar- 
rative there  that  some  time  elapsed 
between  the  creation  of  Adam  and 
that  of  Eve — more  than  the  few 
hours  of  a  natural  day,  judging  from 
what  took  place  in  the  interval. 
Yet  Adam  and  Eve  appear  both  to 
have  been  created  on  the  sixth  day. 

Modern  scepticism,  under  the  guise 
of  science,  has  labored  to  account  for 
the  origin  of  man  by  the  working 
of  natural  laws,  and  without  a  Di- 
vine creative  fiat.  Some  would 
trace  man  by  a  process  of  slow  de- 
velopment through  ages,  to  his 
paternity  in  the  Ape  tribe.  In  reply 
to  this  we  quote  from  Prof.  Dana : 

"It  is  possible  to  conceive  that  a 
being  with  such  mental  endowments 
as  man  possesses,  and  with  even  the 
throat  of  a  gorilla  might  originate 
an  intelligible  language;  but  it  is 
incomprehensible  how  the  gift  of 
speech  could  develop  man's  mental 
qualities  in  a  brute,  however  long 
the  time  allowed.    Moreover,  it  is  a 


natural  question,  why  there  are  not 
man-apes  in  the  present  age  of  the 
world,  representing  the  various 
stages  of  transition,  and  filling  up 
the  hiatus,  admitted  to  be  large,  if 
such  a  process  of  development  is 
part  of  the  general  system  of  nature. 
We  think  this  question  a  fair  one, 
notwithstanding  the  reply  which 
may  be  made,  that  the  more  devel- 
opable individuals  long  since  passed 
out  of  the  ape-stage,  leaving  behind 
only  the  unimprovable  ones.  The 
resemblances  between  the  skeletons 
of  man  and  the  ape3,  and  between  ova 
generally,  mentioned  by  Prof.  Hux- 
ley, may,  to  the  uninitiated  in  sci- 
ence, appear  to  make  the  transition 
by  development  feasible :  yet  they 
are  of  no  weight  as  argument,  since 
the  question  is  as  to  the  fact  whether, 
under  nature's  laws,  such  a  transi- 
tion has  taken  place  as  the  gradual 
change  of  an  ape  into  a  man,  or 
whether  apes  were  made  to  be,  and 
remain,  apes.  In  the  ape,  the  great 
muscle  of  the  foot,  the  flexor  longus 
pollicis,  divides  and  sends  a  branch 
to  three  or  more  of  the  toes,  while 
in  man,  it  passes  to  the  great  toe 
alone  :  is  it  a  fact  that  this  and  the 
many  structural  differences  of  the 
foot  and  other  parts  of  the  body 
were  brought  about  by  gradual  de- 
velopment in  a  progressive  ape  ? 
Why  have  all  the  existing  descend- 
ants of  the  one  or  more  developable 
man-apes  lost  the  grasping  character 
of  the  feet  ?  If  to  some  of  a  better 
sort  it  became  useless  and  comported 
ill  with  the  progressive  elevation  of 
their  natures,  there  are  multitudes 
of  others  that  have  not  yet  emerged 
from  the  savage  state,  some  in  Aus- 
tralasia, it  is  said,  who  still  follow  a 
sort  of  tree  life ;  and  these  would 
always  have  found  the  grasping  foot 
a  great  convenience — good  enough 
for  standing  erect — good  for  climb- 
ing crags  and  trees.  Was  it  through 
an  inflexible  law,  like  that  in  the 
case  of  a  growing  embryo,  which  de- 
termined, along  the  lines  of  "  natural 
selection,"  the  successive  steps  and 
the  final  resul  ts  in  all  their  details  ? 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


81 


But  why,  after  progress  had  begun, 
might  not  groups  of  individuals 
have  been  thrown  out  of  the  line  of 
progress,  according  to  the  same  law 
of  "natural  selection,"  as  this  is  an 
admitted  effect  under  it,  so  that  some 
to  whom  the  grasping  foot  would 
prove  a  great  convenience,  might 
have  retained  it  ?  To  this  question 
comes  the  reply,  that  the  interme- 
diate types  which  have  existed,  have 
become  extinct.  The  reply  will  be 
satisfactory  when  such  fossil  speci- 
mens shall  have  been  discovered." 

Darwin's  theory  of  "  the  transmu- 
tation of  species,"  which  is  broached 
for  its  application  to  this  question, 
has  been  well  replied  to  by  Prof. 
Hitchcock,  as  follows  : 

"  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  very 
few  of  the  advocates  of  the  trans- 
mutation hypothesis  refer  to  man  as 
an  example  of  it.  Yet  if  it  be  true, 
man  ought  to  be  a  conspicuous  illus- 
tration of  it.  For  in  his  case  we 
have  the  most  perfect  of  all  animals 
and  vastly  the  superior  of  them  all, 
appearing  suddenly  at  a  very  recent 
period;  for  though  geologists  may 
contend  about  the  precise  period  of 
his  appearance,  all  agree  that  it  was 
very  recent,  and  none  contend  that 
it  was  earlier  than  the  alluvial 
period.  Whence  came  he?  If  he 
is  only  one  of  the  lower  animals 
metamorphosed,  we  ought  surely  to 
find  a  multitude  of  intermediate 
varieties.  But  not  one  has  ever  been 
brought  to  light.  The  monkey 
tribe  must  have  been  his  immediate 
progenitor.  But  only  a  very  few 
species  of  these  have  been  found 
fossil,  and  none  below  the  tertiary, 
and  all  of  them  differ  as  much  from 
man  a3  do  the  living  monkeys.  La- 
marck had  the  boldness  to  attempt 
to  describe  the  process  by  which  the 
monkey  was  transformed  into  a  man. 
But  the  picture  was  so  absurd  and 
ridiculous  that  few  have  attempted 
to  make  a  sober  philosophical  de- 
fence of  it.  Yet  if  it  fails  in  a  spe- 
cies so  conspicuous  as  man,  it  fails  as 
to  all  others.  But  it  is  less  revolt- 
ing to  common  sense  and  experience 


to  represent  obscure  radiate,  or  artic- 
ulate, or  molluscous  animals  as 
slowly  transmuted  from  one  species 
into  another,  than  to  bring  man  into 
the  same  category.  Therefore,  si- 
lence in  respect  to  him  is  the  wisest 
course.  For  what  philosophic  mind, 
free  from  bias,  can  believe  such  a 
being,  the  highest  of  all  animals  in 
anatomical  structure  and  intellect, 
and  possessed  of  a  moral  nature,  of 
which  no  trace  exists  in  any  other 
animal,  is  merely  the  product  of 
transmutation  of  the  radiate  monad 
through  the  mollusk,  the  lobster,  the 
bird,  the  quadruped,  and  the  mon- 
key, either  by  Lamarck's  principle  of 
'  appetency,'  and  '  the  force  of  cir- 
cumstances/ or  Darwin's  principle 
of  '  selections  ?'  The  fact  is,  man's 
appearance  at  so  late  a  period  in  the 
earth's  history,  and  so  independent 
of  all  other  species,  seems  a  provi- 
dential testimony  to  the  absurdity 
of  this  hypothesis. 

"  Opinions  of  Eminent  Naturalists. 

"  We  have  seen,  however,  that  it 
has  been  adopted  by  some  natural- 
ists. How  is  it  with  the  distin- 
guished paleontologists  and  zoolo- 
gists to  whom  we  have  referred  as 
the  highest  authority  on  such  ques- 
tions V  We  quote  first  from  Prof. 
Pictet,  who  says,  '  the  theory  of  the 
transformation  of  species  appears  to 
us  entirely  inadmissible,  and  diamet- 
rically opposed  to  all  the  teaching  of 
zoology  and  physiology.'  Says 
Agassiz,  '  nothing  furnishes  the 
slightest  argument  in  favor  of  the 
mutability  of  species ;  on  the  con- 
trary, every  modern  investigation 
has  only  gone  to  confirm  the  results 
first  obtained  by  Cuvier,  and  his 
views  that  species  are  fixed.'  '  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  spec' eg 
of  different  successive  periods  are 
supposed  by  some  naturalists  to 
derive  their  distinguishing  fea- 
tures from  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  those  of  preceding 
ages  ;  but  this  is  a  mere  supposition, 
supported  neither  by  physiological 


se 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


nor  geological  evidence,  and  the  as- 
sumption that  animals  and  plants 
may  change  in  a  similar  manner 
during  one  and  the  same  period.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  known  by  the  evi- 
dence furnished  by  the  Egyptian 
monuments,  and  by  the  most  care- 
ful comparison  between  animals 
found  in  the  tombs  of  Egypt  with 
the  living  specimens  of  the  same 
species  obtained  in  the  same  coun- 
try, that  there  is  not  the  shadow  of 
a  difference  between  them,  for  a 
period  of  about  five  thousand  years. 
Geology  only  shows  %at  at  different 
periods  there  have  existed  different 
species  ;  but  no  transition  from  those 
of  a  preceding  into  those  of  the  fol- 
lowing epoch  has  ever  been  noticed 
anywhere.' 

"  Says  Owen,  referring  to  the 
hypothesis  of  Wallace,  Darwin,  and 
others,  '  observation  of  the  effects  of 
any  of  the  above  hypothetical  trans- 
muting influences,  in  changing  any 
known  species  into  another,  has  not 
yet  beo»  recorded.  And  past  expe- 
rience of  the  chance  aims  of  human 
fancy,  unchecked  and  unguided  by 
observed  facts,  shows  how  widely 
they  have  ever  glanced  away  from 
the  golden  centre  of  truth.' 

"  Compelled  thus  by  the  principles 
of  true  philosophy  to  discard  an 
hypothesis  so  unreasonable,  these 
distinguished  savans  have  felt  as  if 
special  acts  of  creation  by  Divine 
power  were  the  only  alternative  to 
account  for  the  successive  introduc- 
tion of  new  groups  of  organisms 
upon  the  earth's  surface.  '  The  two 
first  explications '  (that  of  the  dis- 
placement of  contemporaneous  fau- 
nas— deplacement  des  faunas  contem- 
poraines — and  that  of  transmuta- 
tion,) says  Pictet,  '  being  inadmissi- 
ble, there  remains  the  third,  which 
is  known  under  the  name  of  the  the- 
ory of  successive  creations,  because  it 
admits  the  direct  intervention  of 
creative  power  at  the  commencement 
of  each  geological  epoch.' 

"  Professor  Owen  is  more  decided. 
'  We  are  able,'  says  he,  '  to  demon- 
strate that  the   different  epochs  of 


the  earth,  were  attended  with  corres- 
ponding changes  of  organic  struc- 
ture ;  and  that  in  all  these  instances 
of  change  the  organs,  still  illustra- 
ting the  unchanging  fundamental 
types,  were,  as  far  as  we  could  com- 
prehend their  use,  exactly  those  best 
suited  to  the  functions  of  the  being. 
Hence  we  not  only  show  intelligence 
evoking  means  adapted  to  the  end, 
but  at  successive  times  and  periods 
producing  a  change  of  mechanism 
adapted  to  a  change  in  external  con- 
ditions. Thus,  the  highest  genera- 
lizations in  the  science  of  organic 
bodies,  like  the  Newtonian  laws  of 
universal  matter,  lead  to  the  unequiv- 
ocal conviction  of  a  great  first  cause, 
which  is  certainly  not  mechanical.' 

"  With  still  stronger  emphasis  does 
Agassiz  speak  of  the  original  ani- 
mals. '  All  these  beings,"  says  he, 
"  do  not  exist  in  consequence  of  the 
continued  agency  of  physical  causes, 
but  have  made  their  successive  ap- 
pearance upon  the  earth  by  the  im- 
mediate intervention  of  the  Creator.' 

"  To  the  unsophisticated  mind,  un- 
trammelled by  theories,  the  inevita- 
ble conclusion  from  all  these  facts  is, 
that  the  successive  appearance  of 
numerous  groups  of  animals  and 
plants  on  the  globe,  forms  so  many 
distinct  examples  of  miracles  of  cre- 
ation. For  in  the  view  of  all  except 
the  advocates  of  the  development 
hypothesis,  they  demanded  a  force 
above  and  beyond  nature  in  her  or- 
dinary course,  and  this  is  the  essen- 
tial thing  in  a  miracle.  What  be- 
liever in  the  Bible  ever  doubted  that 
the  creation  of  man  and  contem- 
porary races  was  a  miracle  in  this 
sense?  Indeed,  what  stronger  evi- 
dence of  miraculous  intervention 
have  we  anywhere  than  the  creation 
of  organic  beings,  especially  of  man  ? 
and  his  introduction  is  one  of  the 
facts  of  geological  history.  But  1»he 
mere  creation  of  these  successive 
races  is  not  the  whole  of  the  matter. 
For  they  were  nicely  adapted  to  the 
altered  condition  of  things  at  the 
different  epochs.  They  showed,  also, 
a  gradual  e:evation  in  the  scale  oi 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


83 


being,  as  wo  rise  higher  and  higher. 
Tf  it  was  not  a  miracle  to  introduce 
succeeding  groups  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, that  is,  a  special  divine 
intervention,  then  we  despair  of 
finding  a  miracle  anywhere. — BibUo- 
theca  Sacra. 

Sir  Charles  Lyell,  though  receiv- 
ing with  favor  the  alleged  evidences 
of  man's  prehistoric  antiquity,  is  not 
ready,  by  any  means,  to  derive  man 
from  the  lower  animals  by  any  pro- 
cess of  development.  He  quotes, 
also  with  favor,  M.  Quatrefages,  who 
says,  in  his  work  on  the  unity  of  the 
human  species,  that "  man  must  form 
a  kingdom  by  himself,  if  once  we 
permit  his  moral  and  intellectual  en- 
dowments to  have  their  due  weight 
in  the  classification."  He  quotes, 
also,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
"  It  has  been  alleged,  and  may  be 
founded  on  fact,  that  there  is  less 
difference  between  the  highest  brute 
animal  and  the  lowest  savage  than 
between  the  savage  and  the  most 
improved  man.  But  in  order  to 
warrant  the  pretended  analogy  it 
ought  to  be,  also,  true,  that  this  low- 
est savage  is  no  more  capable  of  im- 
provement than  the  Chimpanzee  or 
Orang-outang." 

Lyell  is  free  to  admit  that  we  can 
not  push  the  comparison  of  man  and 
lower  animals  beyond  what  is  mainly 
physical.  "  We  cannot  imagine  this 
world,"  he  says,  "  to  be  a  place  of 
trial  and  moral  discipline  for  any  of 
the  inferior  animals,  nor  can  any  of 
them  derive  comfort  and  happiness 
from  faith  in  a  hereafter.  To  man, 
alone,  is  given  this  belief,  so  conso- 
nant to  his  reason,  and  so  congenial 
to  the  religious  sentiments  implanted 
by  nature  in  his  soul ;  a  doctrine 
which  tends  to  raise  him  morally 
and  intellectually  in  the  scale  of 
being,  etc." — Antiquity  of  Man,  p. 
498. 

An  eminent  representative  of  the 
development  school,  Prof.  Huxley, 
in  his  late  work  says,  "  there  is  but 
one  hypothesis  regarding  the  origin 
of  the  species  of  animals  in  general, 
which  has  any  scientific  existence — 


that  propounded  by  Mr.  Darwin" 
and  he  contends  that  but  for  the  lack 
of  one  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence, 
Mr.  Darwin  has  demonstrated  "  the 
existence  of  a  true  physical  cause, 
amply  competent  to  account  for  the 
origin  of  living  species,  and  of  man 
among  the  rest."  This  lacking  link 
is  this — the  fact  that  "  distinct  spe- 
cies are  for  the  most  part  incompe- 
tent to  breed  one  with  another,  or 
to  perpetuate  their  race,  like  with 
like.  And  he  admits  that  this  is  at 
present  a  fatal  objection  to  the 
theory,  for  he  adds,  a  true  physical 
cause  must  be  such  as  to  account  for 
all  the  phenomena  within  the  range 
of  its  operation — else  it  must  be  re- 
jected. He,  however,  seems  deter- 
mined to  adopt  the  theory,  "  subject 
to  the  production  of  proof  that  phy- 
siological species  may  be  produced  by 
selective  breeding."  Alas !  the  world, 
by  wisdom,  knows  not  God ! — (pp. 
126-128.) 

Antiquity  of  the  Human  Mace. 

As  regards  this  important  ques 
tion,  it  is  only  of  late  that  any  scien- 
tific men  have  succeeded  in  agitating 
the  learned  world  with  their  pre- 
tended discoveries.  In  1840  the 
gravel  beds  of  Abbeville  were  al- 
leged to  have  yielded  such  human 
remains  as  to  prove  an  antiquity  for 
the  race  far  back  of  that  allowed  by 
the  received  understanding  of  Bibli- 
cal chronology.  But  recently  the 
Abbeville  jawbone,  about  which  al- 
ready the  English  savans  were  much 
in  doubt,  is  proved  to  have  been  a 
fraud  practised  by  the  French 
laborers.  A  London  paper  thus 
exposes  this  latest  imposture.  "  Al- 
though nothing  has  been  said 
in  the  newspapers,  we  believe  dis- 
coveries have  been  made  of  the 
character  of  the  osseous  fragments, 
which  now  change  the  doubt  felt 
by  the  English  geologists  into  cer- 
tainity.  Mr.  Godwin  Austen,  after 
skillfully  conducted  inquiries  of  one 
of  the  French  laborers,  procured  the 
exhumation  of  certain  remains  that 


84 


GENESIS. 


fB.  C.  4102. 


liad  been  interred  by  the  individual 
referred  to  ;  and  on  the  examination 
of  a  particular  skeleton  which 
wanted  the  jaw,  the  Abbeville  bone 
was  found  to  fit  exactly  !" 

It  has  been,  also,  claimed  that  cer- 
tain flint  weapons,  arrow-heads,  etc., 
have  been  found — occasionally  in 
heaps,  as  if  indicating  a  manufac- 
tory of  the  article,  and  in  such  local- 
ities as  to  intimate  that  the  human 
workman  must  have  existed  long 
prior  to  the  date  commonly  assigned 
to  our  race.  As  early  as  1797  Mr. 
Jno.  Frere  published  an  account  of 
such  articles  found  in  the  gravel  of 
Hoxnc,  in  Suffolk,  England,  and  he 
remarked,  "the  situation  in  which 
they  are  found  may  tempt  us  to 
refer  them  to  a  very  remote  period 
indeed,  even  beyond  that  of  the  pres- 
ent world !"  They  were  found  in  a 
gravel  bed  two  feet  thick  and  twelve 
feet  below  the  surface.  Little  or  no 
notice,  however,  was  taken  of  his 
publication.  More  recently  the  sub- 
ject is  reagitated  with  more  public 
interest,  and  now,  with  the  help  of 
greater  names.  The  flint  weapons, 
arrow-heads,  etc.,  in  the  gravel  beds, 
and  the  Egyptian  pottery  of  the 
Nile  deposits,  are  adduced  as  vestiges 
of  man's  pre-Adamic  antiquity.  But 
it  has  been  clearly  shown  that  no 
certain  law  of  the  Nile  deposits  can 
be  fixed  upon  for  ascertaining  the 
age  of  the  pottery. — {London  Quar. 
Rev.,  No.  210,  pp.  419-421.)  And  as 
to  the  flint  weapons,  etc.,  they  can- 
not be  claimed  in  evidence  until  it 
be  shown  (1.)  whether  they  are  of 
the  same  age  as  the  formations  in 
which  they  are  found.  (2.)  Whether 
that  formation  itsolf  is  of  a  very 
remote  antiquity. — (See  Blackwood's 
Mag.,  No.  540,  pp.  422-439;  see 
Aids  to  Faith,  Essay  VI.,  p.  297, 
note,  Am.  edition.)  (3.)  Whether 
these  implements  thernsalves  are 
certainly  artificial.  Many  very 
striking  formations  of  stone,  shaped 
by  the  waters,  or  other  natural 
forces,  are  found,  quite  as  closely 
resembling  art,  as  the  arrow-head  in 
question.      (4.)   If   these  flints    are 


artificial,  why  are  not  the  tools  also 
found  by  which  they  were  made. 
(If  there  were  metallic  tools  in  use, 
would  not  the  metal  have  superseded 
the  flint.  But  none  are  found.) 
(5.)  Why  are  not  human  bones,  or 
other  remains  of  man,  found  along 
with  these  articles  if  they  be  of  hu- 
man production  ?  (G.)  Even  should 
such  be  found,  may  not  these  depos- 
its be  due  to  earthquakes  and  floods, 
which  have  had  such  great  power  in 
shifting  bones,  rocks,  gravel  beds, 
etc.  And  it  is  to  be  noticed  that 
these  deposits  in  question  are  found 
chiefly  in  caves.  (7.)  Why  may  not 
the  extinct  animals  among  whose 
remains  these  flints  are  found,  have 
belonged  to  post  tertiary  times  ? 
Prof.  Lubbock  finds  ample  evidence 
for  ranking  the  mammoth,  rhinoce- 
ros, cave-bear,  hyena,  etc.,  as  of  this 
later  age.  The  urus  now  found  only 
in  fossil  state  is  mentioned  by  Ccesar. 
There  is  ground  to  believe  that  near- 
ly all  the  extinct  species  found  along 
with  human  bones,  or  human  re- 
mains, have  become  extinct  at,  or 
even  since,  the  deluge.  Instead  of 
the  discovery  of  man's  bones  and 
implements  among  the  remains  of 
these  extinct  animals  proving  that 
he  existed  before  the  time  commonly 
fixed  for  his  creation,  such  discover- 
ies would,  at  most,  only  give  evi 
dence  that  those  animals  existed  up 
to  a  later  period  than  has  usually 
been  supposed.  It  is  known  that 
thirty-seven  species  of  mammals  and 
birds  have  become  extinct  during 
the  recent  period.  Neither  the  be- 
hemoth, the  dragon,  the  leviathan, 
nor  the  unicorn  can  certainly  be 
identified  with  any  existing  species. 
Besides  all  this,  the  indisputable 
fact  that  no  animal  can  be  pointed  to 
by  geology  as  having  been  introduced 
later  than  man  is  a  striking  confirma- 
tion of  the  scriptural  record.  For- 
merly the  fossiliferous  strata  were 
referred  to  the  deluge.  But  this  was 
argued  against  on  the  ground  that 
human  fossils  were  not  found  accom- 
panying the  other  animal  remains. 
The  present  state  of  the  question  may 


B.  C.  4102. j 


CHAPTER   I. 


So 


28  And  God  blessed  them,  and  God  said  unto  them,  b  Be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it :  and 
have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the 
air,  and  over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth. 


b  ch.  9  : 1,  7:  Lev. 


9  ;  Ps.  127  :  3. 


revive  the  delude  theory  of  the  fos- 
sils, as  no  more  impossible,  scienti- 
fically, than  the  notions  of  pre- 
Adamic  races  of  man.  The  aim  of 
these  antiquarian  theorists  seems  to 
be  to  find  time  for  the  development 
of  mankind  out  of  the  brute  crea- 
tion, as  if  such  a  leap  could  be  con- 
ceived if  time  enough  be  given. 
But  if,  as  Bun-sen  imagines,  the  hu- 
man race  has  existed  during  two 
hundred  centuries,  where  are  the 
remains  of  their  works  ?  What 
have  they  been  doing  during  the 
fourteen  thousand  years  which  pre- 
ceded the  advent  of  Adam  in  his 
view?  Are  these  few  flints,  called 
arrow-heads,  and  flint  knives,  all 
that  remain  of  him  and  his  works  ? 
The  facts,  with  the  utmost  findings 
of  geology,  do  not  call  for  any  such 
lapse  of  time  for  the  human  race. 

But  it  is  not  presumed  that  these 
imagined  prehistoric  races  could  be 
of  the  Adamic  family — and  the  Mo- 
saic record  has  nothing  to  do  with 
any  such — neither  have  we  any  sub- 
stantial evidence  of  any  such. 

Further.  As  regards  the  claim 
that  human  remains — as  of  earthen 
wares,  have  been  found  at  such 
depths  in  the  mud  of  the  river  Nile 
as  to  prove  the  prehistoric  antiquity 
of  man,  experiments  have  been 
made  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the 
rate  at  which  the  mud  of  the  Nile 
has  been  deposited  during  three 
thousand  years.  Various  estimates 
have  been  made — M.  Girard  fixing 
the  rate  as  about  five  inches  for  a 
century;  M.  Horner  at  three  and 
a-half  inches  for  the  same  time.  A 
bit  of  earthenware  found  at  the 
depth  of  thirty-nine  feet  would  thus 
indicate  thirteen  thousand  years  and 
more  !  M.  Rosiere,  however,  calcu- 
lates two  and  a-quarter  inches  per 


century — which  would  give  us  about 
twenty-five  thousand  years. 

But  this  is  a  muddy  calculation. 
What  could  be  more  uncertain  than 
the  annual  deposits  of  such  a  river  ? 
For  any  basis  of  calculation  it  must 
be  proved  (1.)  that  the  deposits  of 
the  Nile  have  proceeded  uniformly 
year  by  year.  How  can  this  be 
proved  for  thousands  of  years  past  ? 
(2.)  That  the  river  bed  is  even,  and 
has  undergone  no  change.  (3.)  No 
lamina  can  be  found  to  indicate  the 
strata  year  by  year.  (4.)  It  must  be 
shown  that  these  stray  bits  of  pot- 
tery could  not  have  gone  to  that  depth 
through  some  fissures,  or  by  some 
upheavals.  (5.)  It  is  alleged  that 
these  investigations  have  not  been 
conducted  on  satisfactory  principles, 
as  Sir  Ghas.  Lyell  has  also  indi- 
cated. 

28.  As  God  blessed  the  first  living 
creatures,  (vs.  22,)  and  as  He  would 
comprehend  in  His  paternal  blessing, 
all  His  creatures  from  the  lowest  to 
the  highest  animal  form,  so  here, 
after  the  word  of  creation,  follows 
the  word  of  benediction— looking  to- 
wards the  propagation  of  the  human 
species  from  this  one  pair — and  by 
virtue  of  God's  blessing  on  them. 

Unity  of  the  Human  Mace. 

That  the  races  of  men  have  all 
sprung  from  this  one  pair  has  been 
questioned  and  denied  by  some. 
But  it  has  been  now  conclusively 
proven,  as  the  result  of  most  scien 
tific  investigation,  that  the  differen 
ces  which  are  noticed  among  men  of 
various  climes  and  races,  are  only 
such  as  consist  with-  a  common 
parentage.  The  microscope  has 
clearly  shown  that  to  be  scientific- 
ally  true    which    Pan1    alleged   at 


56 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


Athens,  that  "  God  hath  made  of 
one  blood,  all  nations  of  men,  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth," 
(Acts  17  :  23.)  The  blood  of  all  man- 
kind is  found  to  be  the  same,  and 
can  be  distinguished  from  the  blood 
of  all  other  animals.  Sir  Charles 
Lyell  quotes  from  an  elaborate  re- 
view of  Darwin  by  one  "  who  is  an 
eminent  geologist."  "  If  we  embrace 
the  doctrine  of  the  continuous  varia- 
tion of  all  organic  forms  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest,  including  man 
as  the  last  link  in  the  chain  of  being, 
there  must  have  been  a  transition 
from  the  instinct  of  the  brute  to  the 
noble  mind  of  man.  And  in  that 
case,  where  are  the  missing  links, 
and  at  what  point  of  his  progressive 
improvement  did  man  acquire  the 
spiritual  part  of  his  being,  and  be- 
come endowed  with  the  awful  attri- 
bute of  immortality  ?" 

For  the  unity  of  the  human  race 
we  remark : 

1.  The  varieties  found  among  dif- 
ferent races  of  men  are  not  such  as 
to  interfere  with  the  law  of  propaga- 
tion, by  which  varieties,  or  races  of 
the  same  species  reproduce,  while 
really  distinct  species  of  animals 
do  not  reproduce.  No  instances  of 
mixed  races  from  intermixture  of 
distinct  species  have  been  found. 
Besides,  and  most  conclusively  it  is 
found,  that  all  various  races  of  men 
do  intermix  freely  and  fruitfully. 

2.  The  varieties  of  man  are  not 
greater  than  those  that  are  found  in 
the  lower  animals  of  the  same  spe- 
cies— as  the  dog  and  the  hog. 

3.  There  are  ways  of  accounting 
for  the  varieties  found  among  men, 
as  the  effect  of  climates  by  which 
the  human  color  is  so  modified — 
modes  of  rearing,  and  habits  of 
life,  also  account  for  many  modifica- 
tions.— (See  Prichard,  Dr.  Bachman, 
Dr.  Cabell's  "  Unity  of  Mankind." 

4.  The  unity  of  language  which 
all  modern  discovery  more  and  more 
finds  out,  is  a  striking  proof  of  unity 
in  the  race.  Eminent  scholars  who 
claim  the  greater  antiquity  of  man 
admit  the  unity.     Lepsius  claims  to 


have  reduced  all  languages  to  oaa 
original  alphabet.  A  higher  anti- 
quity is  claimed  in  order  to  allow 
for  the  development  of  such  varie- 
ties from  an  original  tongue.  But 
no  account  is  made  by  such  of  the 
miracle  of  the  confusion  of  tongues 
at  Babel,  (ch.  11.)  The  scriptural 
testimony  is  conclusive,  "  God  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men,  (Acts  17  :  2G.) 

Cuvier,  Blumenbach,  Dr.  Prichard, 
have  all  argued  conclusively  as  to 
the  unity  of  the  human  race.  Even 
the  author  of  "  The  Vestiges  of  Crea 
tion  "  admits  the  result  of  researches 
to  be  that  conditions,  such  as  cli- 
mate and  food,  domestication,  and, 
perhaps,  an  inward  tendency  to  pro- 
gress under  tolerably  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, are  sufficient  to  account 
for  all  the  outward  peculiarities  of 
form  and  color  observable  among 
mankind !— (p.  202.) 

"Physiological  ethnology  has  ac- 
counted for  the  varieties  of  the  hu 
man  race,  and  removed  the  barriers 
which  formerly  prevented  us  from 
viewing  all  mankind  as  the  mem- 
bers of  one  family." — Prof.  Max 
Midler. 

Dr.  Bachman  sums  up  the  proofs 
of  the  unity  of  the  human  race,  in 
the  following  sixteen  items  : 

1.  That  all  the  varieties  evi deuce 
a  complete  and  minute  correspon- 
dence in  the  number  of  teeth,  and 
two  hundred  and  eight  additional 
bones  contained  in  the  body. 

2.  That  in  the  peculiarity  in  the 
shedding  of  the  teeth  so  different 
from  all  the  other  animals,  they  all 
correspond. 

3.  That  they  all  possess  the  same 
erect  stature. 

4.  That  they  are  perfectly  alike  in 
the  articulation  of  the  head  with  the 
spinal  column. 

5.  That  they  all  possess  two 
hands. 

6.  That  there  is  universally  an 
absence  of  the  intermaxillary  bone. 

7.  That  they  all  have  teeth  of 
equal  length. 

8.  That  they   all    have    smooth 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


87 


skins  on  the  b  >dy  and  heads  covered 
with  hair. 

9.  That  all  the  races  have  the 
same  number  and  arrangement  of 
muscles  in  every  part  of  the  body — 
the  digestive  and  all  other  organs. 

10.  That  they  all  possess  organs 
of  speech  and  the  power  of  singing. 

11.  They  are  all  omnivorous,  and 
capable  of  living  on  all -kinds  of  food. 

12.  That  they  are  capable  of  in- 
habiting ail  climates. 

13.  That  they  possess  a  slower 
growth  than  any  other  animal,  and 
ar£  later  in  arriving  at  puberty. 

±4.  That  in  every  race  there  is  the 
same  peculiarity  in  the  physical  con- 
stitution of  the  female  differing  from 
all  other  mammalians. 

15.  That  all  the  races  have  the 
same  period  of  gestation,  on  an  av- 
erage produce  the  same  number  of 
young,  and  are  subject  to  similar 
diseases. 

16.  They  differ  most  of  all  from' 
every  other  creature,  and  most  agree 
in  this,  that  they  all  possess  mental 
faculties,  a  conscience,  and  a  hope  of 
immortality. 

Alex.  Von  Humboldt  says,  "  While 
attention  was  exclusively  directed  to 
the  extremes  of  color  and  form,  the 
result  of  the  first  vivid  impressions 
derived  from  the  senses  was  a 
tendency  to  view  these  differences 
as  characteristics,  not  of  mere 
varieties,  but  of  originally  distinct 
species.  The  permanence  of  certain 
types,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  oppo- 
site influences,  especially  of  climate, 
appeared  to  favor  this  view,  notwith- 
standing the  shortness  of  the  time 
to  which  the  historical  evidence  ap- 
plied. But  in  my  opinion  more 
powerful  reasons  lend  their  weight 
to  the  other  side  of  the  question, 
and  corroborate  the  unity  of  the 
human  race.  I  refer  to  the  many 
intermediate  gradations  of  the  tint 
of  the  skin,  and  the  form  of  the 
skull,  which  have  been  made  known 
to  us,  by  the  rapid  progress  of  geo- 
graphical science  in  modern  times, 
to  the  analogies  derived  from  the 
history  of  varieties,  both   domesti- 


cated and  wild,  and  to  the  positive 
observations  collected  respecting  the 
limits  of  fecundity  in  hybrids.  The 
greater  part  of  the  supposed  con- 
trasts to  which  so  much  weight  was 
formerly  assigned,  have  disappeared 
before  the  laborious  investigations  of 
Tiedemann  on  the  brain  of" Negroes, 
and  of  Europeans,  and  the  anatom- 
ical researches  of  Vrolik  and  Weber." 
"  The  great  and  important  princi- 
ple of  the  unity  of  the  human  race, 
was  to  be  proclaimed  and  enforced. 
One  couple  were,  therefore,  made  the 
progenitors  of  the  whole  human 
family!  All  other  considerations 
were  deemed  of  minor  importance 
compared  with  that  momentous  doc- 
trine which  twines  a  tie  of  brother- 
hood around  all  nations  and  all  ages. 
And  though  a  plurality  of  first 
couples  would  have  prevented  mar- 
riages which  were  later  justly  re- 
garded with  abomination,  yet  it 
would  have  destroyed  a  fundamen- 
tal truth,  which  is  the  germ  of  noble 
social  virtues,  which  sheds  brilliant 
light  over  the  confusion  of  national 
strife  and  warfare." — {Kalisch,  p.  99.) 
The  varieties  which  we  find  in 
races  of  men  so  far  from  proving  a 
difference  of  origin,  according  to 
"the  appropriate  zoological  districts 
in  which  they  are  found,"  are  to  be 
explained  in  consistency  with  the 
record — that  "  Em  was  the  mother 
of  all  living," — and  that  "  God  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations."  A 
clew  is  given  to  the  facts  by  the 
record  of  what  occurred  at  Babel. 
God's  plan  for  mankind,  as  settlers 
of  the  globe,  was  not  concentration, 
but  dispersion.  Man's  plan  was  the 
opposite,  (Gen.  11  :  4.)  At  Babel 
God  did  interpose  to  scatter  men 
"  over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth." 
And  we  are  led,  from  the  record,  to 
understand,  what  no  one  can  pro- 
nounce impossible  with  God,  that  cer- 
tain changes,  whether  of  complexion 
or  of  constitution,  (as  well  as  of 
language,)  suited  to  such  "zoolog- 
ical districts,"  were  miraculously 
wrought  in  the  race  at  that  time — ac- 
cording to  the  declared  object  of  God 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102 


29  T  And  God  said,  Behold,  I  have  given  you  every  herb 
bearing  seed,  which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  and  every 
tree,  in  the  which  is  the  fruit  of  a  tree  yielding  seed ;  c  to  you 
it  shall  be  for  meat. 

30  And  to  d  every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  to  every  e  fowl  of 
the  air,  and  to  every  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  wherein 
there  is  life,  I  have  given  every  green  herb  for  meat :  and  it  was  so. 

31  And  f  God  saw  every  tiling  that  he  had  made:  and  behold, 


c  ch.  9  ;  3  ;  Job  36  :  31 ;  Ps.  104 :  14,  15  ;  136 :  25  ;  146 : 
147  :  9.  e  Job  38  :  41.  f  Ps.  104  :  24 ;  1  Tim.  4  :  4 


Acts  14  :  17.  d  Ps.  145:  15,  16  ; 


to  disperse  mankind  "  abroad  upon 
the  face  of  all  the  earth. — (See  Gen. 
11:5-9.)  yiSubdue.it  The  blessing- 
is  found  in  the  command — for  the 
command  is  a  grant  from  God,  as 
are  all  His  commands.  He  gives 
what  He  commands,  and  He  com- 
mands us  to  receive  what  He  has  to 
give.  The  command  to  subdue  the 
earth  includes  the  tilling  of  the 
earth — bringing  it  into  the  fullest 
service  of  man  by  agriculture — and 
employing  the  animal  tribes  for  all 
necessary  and  useful  purposes.  Here 
was  the  right  given  to  man  to  exer- 
cise lordship  over  the  earth  and  its 
inferior  inhabitants.  And  he  was 
to  be  active  in  using  the  right — for 
God  has  granted  nothing  that  is 
worthy  of  us  without  requiring  also 
our  agency.  Man  was  to  rule  over 
the  fish  of  the  sea,  the  birds  of  the 
air,  and  over  the  behemoth,  or  herbi- 
vorous animals.  The  carnivorous 
creatures,  or  beasts  of  prey,  are  not 
mentioned. 

29.  The  Creator  of  man  here  as- 
signs to  him  the  food  that  was  proper 
for  his  use.  The  Divine  appoint- 
ment was  that  he  should  use  freely 
the  fruits  of  the  trees,  and  the  veg- 
etables of  the  garden.  And  when 
after  the  deluge,  flesh  is  allowed  for 
food,  it  is  expressly  mentioned — 
"Everything  that  moveth  shall  be 
meat  for  you ;  even  as  the  green  herb 
have  I  given  you  all  things,"  Gen. 
9  :  3.  The  plain  inference  is  that 
flesh  meat  had  not  been  given  to 
man  for  food  prior  to  the  time  of  this 
grant  to  Noah. — See  Magee  on  the 
Atonement,   Sec.   LII.    It  need  not 


be  regarded  in  the  light  of  an  abso- 
lute restriction,  because  flesh  would 
scarcely  have  been  thought  of  for 
food  at  first,  and  the  vegetable  diet 
was  that  which  best  suited  man's 
physical  constitution  at  that  time. 
In  oriental  countries  flesh  is  scarcely 
used  by  the  masses  for  food,  even  at 
this  day.  If  animal  food  came  to  be 
used  before  the  flood,  as  is  inferred 
by  many  from  the  distinction  of 
clean  and  unclean  beasts  made  in 
the  ark,  the  history  of  its  introduc- 
tion is  not  known.  But  such  a  dis- 
tinction of  clean  and  unclean  would 
most  likely  have  been  introduced  in 
connexion  with  the  law  of  sacrifice, 
which  must  have  originated  imme- 
diately after  the  fall.  Yet  it  does 
not  necessarily  imply  the  use  of 
animal  food.  This  early  abstinence 
from  flesh-meat  is  found  in  the  tra- 
ditions of  all  nations,  as  a  character- 
istic of  their  golden  age — the  age  of 
innocence. 

30.  While  both  herb  and  fruit 
were  assigned  to  man  for  his  food,  it 
is  the  herb  only,  which  is  allotted  to 
the  inferior  animals  and  fowls. 
There  is  no  minutest  animalcule 
created  by  God  which  is  not  provided 
for,  and  nourished  from  His  own 
bounty.  ^[  And  it  was  so.  This 
refers  to  all  the  paragraph  foregoing 
from  vs.  27.     See  Ps.  147  :  9  ;  145  :  16. 

31.  God  now  surveys  His  entire 
creative  work,  and  pronounces  .  it 
all  very  good — nothing,  as  yet,  im- 
paired or  corrupted  by  sin.  This  He 
would  frequently  set  forth,  that 
whatever  is  now  defiled  and  desolate 
has  become  so  by  the  fall,  (vss.  4,  10, 


B.  C.  4102.]  CHAPTER  II.  89 

it  was  very  good.     And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the 
sixth  day. 

CHAPTER    II. 

THUS  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished,  and  a  all  the 
host  of  them. 


a  Ps.  33  :  6. 


12,  18,  21,  25,  31,)  and  did  not  thus 
come  forth  from  the  hand  of  the 
Creator.  It  may  be  observed  that 
this  verdict  is  pronounced  in  seven 
instances,  and  in  each  with  a  dis- 
tinct reference : 

I.  At  the  calling  forth  of  Light, 
(vs.  4.) 

II.  At  the  calling  forth  of  Order, 

1.  In  the  waters  arranged,  (vs.  10.) 

2.  In  the  dry  land  adapted  to  pro- 
duction, (vs.  12.) 

3.  In  the  adjustment  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies  for  lights,  (vs.  18.) 

III.  At  the  calling  forth  of  Life, 

1.  In  the  fishes  and  fowls,  (vs.  21.) 

2.  In  the  land  animals,  (vs.  25.) 

3.  In  man,  as  crowning  all,  (vs.  31.) 
In  each  case  there  is  special  signifi- 
cance in  pronouncing  this  sentence 
of  approbation.  *ft  And  it  was  even- 
ing, and  it  was  morning,  day  the 
sixth — the  ordinal  definite  with  the 
article,  and  only  here  in  this  chap- 
ter. Everything  had  been  brought 
forth  according  to  a  fixed  order — and 
each  in  its  proper  relation  to  all  the 
rest — and  all  in  six  days  with  refer- 
ence to  the  seventh  day,  which  was 
the  day  of  rest  from  all  the  creative 
work.  Herein  God  gave  a  type  of 
human  activity  and  of  sacred  rest 
for  all  his  creatures,  after  His  own 
Divine  example.  "  For  in  six  days 
the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth, 
the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and 
rested  the  seventh  day." 


CHAPTER  II. 

Recapitulation  and  Enlarge- 
ment of  the  Narrative — Cre- 
ation of  Man,  (Adam  and  Eve,) 
in  its  Reference  to  Redemp- 


tion—  The  Sabbath  —  Eden — 
Marriage. 

§  8.  Transition  Clause.    Ch.  2:1. 

1.  Thus,  lit.,  and  were  finished. 
The  sacred  historian  now  gives  a 
summary  statement,  looking  back 
over  the  preceding  narrative,  and 
harmonizing  with  the  record  of 
chapter  1 — that  thus  the  heavens  and 
tlie  earth  were  finished — that  is,  in 
this  order,  and  in  this  time,  they 
were  completed — (used  of  Solomon's 
finishing  the  temple,  2  Chron.  7:11,) 
— not  as  some  would  have  it,  in  an 
instant,  though  God  could  as  easily 
have  so  done.  Others  would  have 
it,  in  six  indefinite  ages.  The  narra- 
tive has  it  simply  in  the  beginning, 
and  in  the  six  days  which  are  fol- 
lowed by  the  seventh,  without  giving 
us  any  more  particular  account  of  the 
time.  And  this  is  so  repes  ted  here 
as  to  preclude  all  the  tendencies  to 
doubt  and  distort  the  record.  Besides, 
|  it  is  added,  "  and  all  the  host  of  them," 
I  — that  is,  all  their  array,  multitude, 
|  (as  of  an  army,  in  their  ranks  and 
|  order,)  were  created  in  this  time. 
This  is  parallel  with  the  declaration 
of  John,  (ch.  1 : 1-3,) "  All  things  were 
made  by  Him,  (the  Personal  Word, 
!  the  Lord  Jesus,)  and  without  Him 
I  was  not  any  {one)  thing  made  that  was 
made,"  Ps.  33 : 6.  The  term  here 
rendered  host,  is  the  same  as  is  com- 
monly used  in  the  title  of  God  as 
"  Lord  of  (the  starry)  hosts."  The 
Samaritan  reads,  their  parts.  Sept. 
and  Vulg. — their  adornments.  The 
other  versions  render  it  army — and 
the  sense  is  of  a  multitude  in  orderly 
arrangement — as  a  host  marshalled 
for  battle.     TL  is  term  fitly  expresses 


90 


GENESIS. 


[B  C.  4102. 


2  b  And  on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  his  work  which  he  had 
made;  and  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  his  work 
which  he  had  male. 

b  Exod.  20  :  11 ;  31  :  IT ;  Deut.  5  ;  14 ;  Heb.  4  :  4. 

hosts  that  lie  leads  to  battle  against 
darkness." 


the  orderly  arrangement  of  the  cre- 
ation— every  thing  in  its  place — 
every  living  thing  yielding  accord- 
ing to  its  kind,  and  in  its  season — 
every  animal,  in  its  structure  and 
instincts,  exactly  suited  to  its  ele- 
ment and  mode  of  life,  and  all 
things  answering  the  Divine  plan. 

Observe. — Here  is  noted  the  pos- 
itive completion  of  God's  creative 
work — the  institution  of  natural 
laws — and  no  alteration  of  these 
natural  laws  has  since  been  made, 
though  God  has  wrought  supernat- 
urally,  as  He  cannot  be  tied  to  mere 
laws  of  nature,  which  are  only  the 
ordinary  modes  of  His  operation. 
There  is  no  positive  evidence  that 
any  new  species  have  been  created 
since  the  close  of  the  creative  week. 
The  work  was  gradual,  to  exhibit 
the  order  and  arrangement  of  the 
parts,  and  to  give  fullest  proof  of 
intelligent  design  in  all  the  details 
of  it — while  it  is  thus  best  calculated 
to  give  instruction' to  man,  as  well  \ 
as  to  the  -higher  orders  of  intelli- 
gence.   Job  38  : 7. 

"  Their  host"  that  is  of  "  the  heav- 
ens and  earth,"  is  referred  to  in 
Neh.  9:6,  "  Thou,  even  thou,  art 
Lord  alone ;  thou  hast  made  heaven, 
the  heaven  of  heavens,  with  all  their 
host,  the  earth  and  all  that  are 
therein,  the  seas  and  all  therein,  and  j 
thou  preservest  thern  all ;  and  all 
the  host  of  heaven  worshippeth 
thee."  The  angels  would  seem  to 
be  here  referred  to,  in  all  their  or- 
ders ;  and,  perhaps,  other  tenants  of 
other  worlds.  At  least  the  idea  is 
here  expressed  that  all  beings  and 
things  were  created  by  God,  and  the 
statement  is  here  distinctly  repeated, 
perhaps  to  show  that  Satan,  who  is 
soon  to  be  mentioned,  is  also  a  crea- 
ture of  God,  and  not  independent  of 
His  control.  Delitsch  says,  "  God  is 
'  Elohim  of  hosts'    The  stars  are  His 


§  8.  a.    Institution   of  the  Sab- 
bath.   Ch.  2  :  2,  3. 

2.  Here  is  given  the  great  fact 
which  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  Sab- 
bath institution.  %  God  ended — 
finished — completed — the  same  term 
as  is  used  in  vs.  1,  where  the  com- 
pletion was  already  noted  at  the 
close  of  the  sixth  day.  But  here  the 
verb  is  in  the  intensive  form,  and 
is  construed  with  the  preposition 
"from,"  meaning  God  wholly  ceased 
from.  %  And  He  rested  from.  The 
verb  is  the  same  as  the  noun,  which 
means  Sabbath  ;  and  it  conveys  here 
the  idea  of  rest,  in  the  higher  sense, 
not  from  exhaustion,  or  weariness, 
but  ceasing  from  the  creative  work 
of  the  six  days,  as  completed,  per- 
fected. "  The  Father  worketh,"  how- 
ever, (John  5 :  17,)  and  the  Son 
works,  in  all  the  works  of  Provi- 
dence. That  He  ceased  on  the 
seventh  day  does  not  imply  that  any 
part  of  the  creative  work  was  done 
on  the  seventh  day.  Some  have 
supposed  this  to  be  implied  by  the 
plain,  rendering,  and  hence  the  Sept., 
Sf/riac  and  Sain,  altered  the  read- 
ing by  adding  "on  the  sixth  day!' 
Others,  as  Rosenmuller,  Calvin,  etc., 
translate  had  ceased.  But  this  is 
not  necessary.  It  is  that  utter  ceas- 
ing from  His  work  which  devoted 
the  entire  day  to  rest,  (Exod.  31  :  17,) 
— "  not  doing  any  work,"  as  it  is 
expressed  in  the  fourth  command- 
ment. There  is  nothing  here  to 
favor  the  idea  that  the  Sabbath  is 
to  be  a  day  of  indolence,  or  inaction 
— an  actual  cessation  from  employ- 
ment of  all  kinds,  but  from  labor 
such  as  is  carried  on  in  the  six  days 
— the  secular  labor  of  the  week.  It 
is  to  be  a  holy  resting,  even  from 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  II. 


91 


3  And  God  c  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it :  be- 
cause that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all  his  work  which  God  crea- 
ted and  made. 

cNeh.  9:  14;  Is.  58  :  13.  ••' 


lawful  employments,  which  are 
worldly,  and  yet  it  is  to  be  a  holy 
activity  in  joyous,  thankful  worship, 
and  in  grateful  works  of  necessity 
and  mercy.  See  John,  (ch.  7  :  23,) 
where  our  Lord  expounds  the  doc- 
trine. 

3.  This  fact  of  God's  resting-,  ceas- 
ing, from  His  six  days'  work  is  the 
positive  ground  upon  which  He  pro- 
ceeds to  bless  the  seventh  day,  and 
sanctify  it.  As  He  ceased  from  His 
six  days'  work,  so  we  are  commanded 
to  cease  from  our  six  days'  work. 
"  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor,  and  do 
all  thy  work  ;  but  the  seventh  day 
is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God, 
in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work," 
etc.  *\\  And  God  blessed  the  seventh 
day — ("the  Sabbath  day," — fourth 
commandment,) — not  so  much  the 
day  as  the  ordinance.  This  distinc- 
tion God  here  set  upon  the  seventh 
day,  that  this  alone  of  all  the  days 
He  blessed — as  being  the  original 
Sabbath.  He  conferred  upon  it  His 
benediction,  as  "  the  pearl  of  days," 
— the  Sabbath — the  best  of  all  the 
seven  on  this  account.  He  blessed 
it  as  the  day  that  was  to  be  made 
the  channel  of  such  special  blessings 
to  the  race.  ^[  lie  sanctified  it — set 
it  apart — separated  it  to  a  holy  use — 
(this  is  the  sense  of  the  term,) — to 
the  purpose  of  enjoying  God's 
special  blessings  in  communion  and 
fellowship  with  Him.  This  patri- 
archal Sabbath  is  referred  to  by  the 
fourth  commandment,  (Exod.  20,) 
where,  along  with  the  other  funda- 
mental laws  of  universal  moral  obli- 
gation, is  the  Sabbath  law,  as  insti- 
tuted here  in  the  earliest  estate  of 
man — even  before  the  law  of  mar- 
riage and  the  law  of  labor — as  in- 
deed the  very  first  necessity  of  man's 
earthly  being.  One  day  in  seven,  as 
a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  praise,  a 
day  of  grateful  work  and  worship, 


in  lively  communion  with  God — this 
is  the  Sabbath  as  made  for  man. 
And  the  fourth  commandment  refers 
back  to  this  original  institution, 
"Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  etc., 
for  in  six  days  the  Lord  (Jehovah,) 
made  heaven  and  earth,  etc.,  and 
rested  the  seventh  day ;  where- 
fore the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath 
day,  and  hallowed  it."  It  is  found 
to  be  in  accordance  with  the  physical 
constitution  of  man  and  beast,  which 
requires  such  an  interval  of  rest 
from  the  six  days'  work.  It  is  every 
way  the  highest  boon  to  man,  in  his 
social  interests — it  is  at  the  very 
foundation  of  social  order — the  great 
auxiliary  of  all  good  laws,  and  with- 
out whose  blessed  influences,  infidel- 
ity and  crime  must  desolate  the 
fairest  land.  And  the  Sabbath  is 
indispensable  for  men  in  the  promo- 
tion of  their  spiritual  interests.  God 
has  graciously  set  up  this  institution 
for  the  purposes  of  salvation — invit- 
ing His  creatures,  specially  and  pub- 
licly, to  adore  Him  in  His  works 
and  ways — to  read  His  word — pay 
Him  proper  worship,  and  promote 
the  interests  of  His  church  on  earth 
— keeping  up  His  ordinances  and 
sacraments  in  the  world  according 
to  His  covenant  of  grace.  And  it  is 
found  to  be  what  the  necessities  of 
His  cause  on  earth  demand.  The 
abolition  of  the  Sabbath  is,  there- 
fore, a  blow  at  the  foundations  of 
morality  and  religion.  Accordingly, 
infidels  and  false  religionists  have 
been  ready  to  unite  for  its  overthrow. 
Observe. — (1 .)  The  original  Sabbath 
was  man's  first  day  upon  earth  ;  the 
first  day  after  he  was  created  was 
the  Sabbath — and  now  the  Christian 
Sabbath  is  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
instead  of  the  last — so  that  first  of 
all,  now  under  the  gospel,  as  at  the 
beginning,  man  may  find  rest  and 
peace  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  then  go 


92 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4100. 


forth  to  the  labors  of  the  week,  re- 
joicing in  Him.  (2.)  Every  dispen- 
sation has  had  its  Sabbath — the 
Patriarchal,  the  Mosaic,  and  the 
Christian.  The*  Sabbath  was  before 
the  Mosaic  law,  and  is  not  abrogated 
with  it.  The  reason  for  its  institu- 
tion belongs  equally  to  all  times  and 
people,  and  stands  good  for  us,  as 
for  the  patriarchs.  (3.)  The  division 
of  our  time  into  weeks  is  most  sat- 
factorily  accounted  for  in  this  weekly 
Sabbath,  and  it  stands  as  of  perpet- 
ual obligation.  Hence  we  find  its 
observance  commanded  in  the  deca- 
logue, as  one  of  those  first  principles 
of  morality,  which  cannot  be  abro- 
gated. "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man,"  not  for  the  Jews  alone,  (Mark 
2  :  27.)  (4.)  The  day  has  been 
changed  from  the  seventh  to  the 
first  by  the  example  of  our  Lord  and 
the  apostles ;  and  this  change  was 
foreshadowed  in  the  Mosaic  law. 
"  The  day  after  the  Sabbath  "  was  a 
day  of  holy  solemnities,  and  it  was 
the  day  of  presenting  the  first  fruits 
which  was  Christ  Jesus,(l  Cor.  15  :  20.) 
SeeLev.23:ll;ch.7:4;8:10;17:12; 
50 :  10,  showing  traces  of  weeks — and 
in  the  New  Testament,  John  20  : 1, 
19,  26  ;  Acts  20  :  7  ;  1  Cor.  10  :  2  ;  Rev. 
1  :  10.  Though  no  secular  work 
is  to  be  done  on  the  Sabbath,  it  is 
to  be  a  day  of  rest  to  the  body — to 
the  mind,  and  to  the  soul.  The  body 
is  not  to  toil  at  its  week-day  labors. 
The  mind  is  not  to  be  occupied  with 
its  week-day  cares.  The  soul  is  to 
rest  itself  wholly  on  Christ  Jesus,  and 
body,  mind  and  soul  are  to  be  given 
to  the  work  and  worship  of  God,  in 
Christ.  ^[  Because.  The  immediate 
reason  is  here  assigned  for  this  Sab- 
bath institution,  because  in  it  God 
had  rested,  as  the  type  of  a  higher 
rest — and  men  are  to  labor  to  enter 
into  that  rest,  (Heb.  4  :  11.)  It  will 
be  observed  that  in  this  seventh  day 
there  is  nothing  said  of  "  the  even- 
ing and  the  murning,"  as  in  each  of 
the  six  days.  The  reason  is  that  it 
was  not  a  day — having  a  day's  work, 
that  was  spread  out  through  the 
day.   and  limited  by  the  evening. 


But  it  was  a  day  of  resting  from  the 
work  of  the  previous  days,  and  not 
needing  any  notice  of  the  day's 
progress  and  limitation — though  it 
was  bounded  as  the  other  days 
were.  And  as  no  new  day  of  crea- 
tion followed  this  seventh  day,  it 
did  not  need  to  have  its  boundary 
noted  like  the  rest.  This  daily 
notice  of  "the  evening  and  the 
morning "  formed  the  transition — 
the  connecting  link — between  one 
creative  day  and  that  which  followed. 
Some  understand  the  omission  of 
this  formula  here,  as  meaning  that 
the  Divine  Sabbath  had  no  close — 
that  it  extends  forward  over  all  his- 
tory, and  is  to  absorb  it  into  itself,  so 
as  to  endure  for  ever  and  ever,  as 
the  Sabbath  of  God  and  of  His 
creatures.  (So  Delitsch,  and  others. 
But  see  Introduction,  "  Days  of  Cre- 
ation." If  Created  and  made — lit.— 
created  to  make,  or  to  do.  Here  both 
terms  used  in  the  narrative  of  the 
creation  are  employed  to  express  the 
whole  work.  Some  understand 
these  terms  as  both  of  them  used 
here  to  include  the  original  creative 
work,  (out  of  nothing,)  and  the  after 
formative  work  out  of  the  created 
materials  ;  or,  this  may  be  under- 
stood as  an  idiomatic  expression,  to 
denote  the  thoroughness  and  com- 
pleteness of  the  work.  This  is  Cal- 
vin's view.  The  Jewish  Fam.  Bible 
reads,  "  which  God  had  created  in 
order  to  make  it."  Sept.,  "  which 
God  began  to  make."  Some  Jewish 
commentators  understand  it  as  ex- 
pressing the  continued  activity  of 
God,  in  the  subsequent  working  of 
the  ordinary  laws  of  nature.  Au- 
gustine says,  "the  seventh  day  is 
without  an  evening,  and  has  no  set- 
ting, because  thou  hast  sanctified  it 
to  an  eternal  continuance."  "  There 
remaineth,  therefore,  a  rest  (a  Sab- 
bath keeping,)  to  the  people  of  God," 
(Heb.  4:9.)  Observe.— The  divis- 
ion of  time  into  weeks  is  a  memorial 
of  this  primitive  Sabbath  institution. 
The  number  seven  is  found  in  the 
earliest  Bible  history  as  a  sacred 
numb*  r ;  and  there  is  evidence  of  a 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  II. 


4  f  d  These  are  the  generations  of  the  heavens  and  of  the 
earth  when  they  were  created,  in  the  day  that  the  Lord  God 
made  the  earth  and  the  heavens, 

dch.  1  :  l;  Ps.  90:  1,2. 


seven  til  day  as  a  sacred  day,  (see 
(Ten.  4  : 3,  15,  24.)  So  in  the  history 
or  the  Flood — where  four  occasions 
are  noted  at  successive  intervals  of 
seven  days,  all  special  and  sacred — 
when  the  raven  first,  and  then  the 
dove  three  times,  was  sent  out  of 
the  ark,  (ch.  8  :  6-12.)  So  the  sacred 
time  was  noted  in  Exodus,  (16  :  23,) 
as  a  reason  for  gathering  a  double 
portion  of  the  manna  on  the  preced- 
ing day ;  and  this  was  on  the  basis 
of  the  primitive  institution,  as  here 
recorded,  and  prior  to  the  decalogue 
at  Sinai.  So  the  ancient  Persians, 
and  the  people  of  India,  and  the 
ancient  Germans  held  a  seventh  day 
as  sacred.  So  Homer,  Hesiod,  and 
Gallimachus  call  the  seventh  day 
"holy."  Lucian  records  the  fact 
that  it  was  given  to  school-boys  as  a 
holiday.  JSusebius  declares  that 
almost  all  the  philosophers  and 
poets  acknowledge  the  seventh  day 
as  holy.  And  Porphyry  states  that 
the  Phoenicians  consecrated  one  day 
in  seven  as  holy.  The  Egyptians, 
Assyrians,  Babylonians  and  Chinese 
were  acquainted  with  this  weekly 
division  of  time ;  the  nations  of 
India  also,  and  the  people  of  interior 
Africa,  (see  Oldendorf,)  and  the  ab- 
origines of  America.  And  no  ac- 
count can  be  given  of  its  origin  but 
this  institution  of  the  Sabbath.  No 
other  theory  accounts  for  the  sacred 
character  of  the  seventh  day.  "Be- 
sides the  general  divisions  of  time 
produced  by  the  sun  and  moon,  and 
which  were  employed  with  more  or 
less  accuracy  by  all  nations,  the 
weekly  division  is  acknowledged  to 
have  been  purely  Shemitish  in  its 
origin.  Humboldt,  in  his  '  Kosmos,' 
admits  this.  Though  there  are  inti- 
mations of  this  hebdomadal  period 
in  other  ancient  writings,  yet  it  is 
found  in  the  Bible,  as  in  its  native 
place,  where  the  fact  is  accompanied 


by  its  reason,  and  both  are  treated 
as  well  known  from  the  beginning." 
In  the  event  there  recorded  it  has 
its  origin — and  as  there  is  nothing 
astronomical  in  its  character,  there 
could  have  been  no  other  foundation 
for  it,  than  that  which  is  here  re- 
corded.— {T.  Lewis,  p.  238.) 

§  9.  Fuller  Account  of  the 
Creation — Vegetable  Forma- 
tion.   Ch.  2  : 4-6. 

As  the  first  chapter  serves  for  a 
history  of  the  world  in  general,  so 
this  second  chapter  serves  as  a  foun- 
dation for  the  history  of  redemption 
in  particular.  This  passage  is  the 
continuation.  After  the  simplest  out- 
line of  the  creative  work,  Moses  has 
furnished  to  him  here,  by  the  same 
inspiration,  a  fuller  account  of  the 
formation  of  man,  and  of  his  loca- 
tion and  relations.  This  narrative 
is  nearly  as  long  as  the  whole  fore- 
going ;  showing  plainly  that  the 
object  is  to  give  the  history  of  the 
world  in  reference  to  man,  and  the 
history  of  man  in  reference  to  salva- 
tion. This  paragraph  belongs  to  the 
history  of  the  third  day's  work,  as 
the  following  belongs  to  that  of  the 
sixth  day's  work.  It  matters  little 
whether  we  regard  this  verse  as  an 
appendix  to  the  preceding  chapter, 
or  as  a  preface  to  the  following  chap- 
ter, or  as  belonging  partly  to  the  one 
and  partly  to  the  other — the  latter 
clause  beginning  a  new  verse,  "  In 
the  day,"  etc.     (See  vs.  5,  notes.) 

4.  This  may  be  regarded  as  the 
opening  of  a  new  section,  in  which 
Moses,  by  the  Spirit,  proceeds  to 
record  the  history  of  redemption  in 
particular.  It  rests  upon  the  first 
section  and  presupposes  it.  Hence 
the  inspired  historian  repeats,  in 
still  another  form,  the  most  impor- 
tant declaration  that  this  is  the  true 


94 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  410ii 


history  of  the  creation.  In  ch.  1 : 1, 
he  had  made  the  simple  statement 
that,  in  the  beginning,  God  (Elohim,) 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 
Then,  after  the  detailed  narrative  of 
the  six  days'  work,  he  takes  care 
(ch.  2  :  1,)  to  reassert  the  most  fun- 
damental truth  that  thus  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth  were  brought  to  a 
completion,  and  all  that  they  con- 
lain.  And  now  again,  he  reiterates 
that  these  are  the  generations — (lit., 
births)  geneses —  origins  of  them. 
This  is  the  same  kind  of  reiteration 
which  the  evangelist  John  uses,  (ch. 
1  :  1-3,)  (as  if  to  preclude  denial,) 
"  The  same  was  in  the  beginning 
with  God.  All  things  were  made  by 
Him,  and  without  Him  was  not  any 
thing  made  that  was  made."  Cal- 
vin well  says,  "  The  design  of  Moses 
was  deeply  to  impress  upon  our 
minds  the  origin  of  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  For  there  have  always 
been  ungrateful  and  malignant  men, 
who,  either  by  feigning  that  the 
world  was  eternal,  or  by  obliterating 
the  memory  of  the  creation,  would 
obscure  the  glory  of  God.  Where- 
fore it  is  not  a  superfluous  repeti- 
tion which  inculcates  the  necessary 
fact  that  the  world  existed  only 
from  the  time  when  it  was  created, 
since  such  knowledge  directs  us  to 
its  architect  and  author."  The  Arab 
reads,  "  This  is  a  history  of  the  pro- 
duction of  the  heavens  and  the  earth." 
According  to  the  analogy  of  passages 
beginning  with  this  clause,  we  should 
infer  that  it  belongs  to  the  following 
paragraph.  So  it  occurs  eleven 
times  in  this  book — and  as  the 
phrase,  "  the  generations  of  Adam," 
(ch.  5:1,)  and  of  Noah,  (ch.  6  :  9,) 
means  the  descendants  of  these  per- 
sons respectively,  so  "  the  genera- 
tions of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  " 
would  refer  to  the  things  which 
sprang  from  them  or  their  develop- 
ments. This  is  the  division  indi- 
cated in  the  Jewish  MSS.  But  it  is 
only  the  earth  whose  history  fol- 
lows. Dr.  McCaul  holds  that  in- 
stead of  being  a  title,  or  summary 
of  what  follows,  it  is  "  a  recapitula- 


tion of  what  is  narrated  in  the  first 
chapter,"  as  is  indicated  by  the 
clauses  of  vs.  4 — first,  the  creation 
of  "the  heavens  and  the  earth," — 
second,  the  "  making  of  the  earth 
and  the  heavens," — according  to  the 
order  of  ch.  1.  ^[  When  they  were 
created.  Lit. — In  their  being  crea- 
ted. ^[  In  the  day.  Rather,  C^Si, 
when  {in  day) — used  here  adverbially. 
This  broad  sense  of  the  word  "  day  " 
is  a  ground  with  some  for  contending 
that  it  may  mean  in  ch.  1,  an  indefi- 
nite period  of  time.  But  in  the 
first  chapter  the  sense  is  limited  by 
"  the  evening  and  the  morning,"  and 
here  it  is  limited  by  the  narrative 
immediately  preceding,  showing  that 
it  means  not  a  day  of  twenty-four 
hours,  but  is  used  with  the  preposi- 
tion adverbially,  and  refers  to  the 
six  days,  just  specified.  ^[  The  Lord 
God.  Hero  is  first  introduced  the 
peculiar  name  Jehovah.  It  is  in 
connexion  with  the  absolute  name 
of  God,  used  in  the  former  section 
Elohim.  Here  it  is  "  Jelwvah-Elo- 
him."  Some  have  inferred  from  the 
use  here  of  this  new  title  of  God, 
which  is  kept  up  through  this  and 
the  following  chapter,  that  Moses 
gathered  his  history  from  previous 
documents — and  that  this  is  a  frag- 
ment from  another  source  than  the 
preceding.  But  such  a  view  is  arbi- 
trary, and  cannot  be  maintained. — 
(See  Introduction)  It  is  much  more 
natural  to  suppose  that  the  introduc- 
tion here  of  a  new  title  of  God,  has 
a  meaning  appropriate  to  the  new 
section.  And  so  we  find  it.  The 
name  used  in  the  account  of  the  cre- 
ative work  is  the  original,  absolute 
name  of  God,  {Elohim,)  based  on  the 
term  {El)  signifying  strength.  This 
was,  there,  the  appropriate  name. 
Here  the  historian  proceeds  to  a  new 
section,  in  which  he  lays  the  founda- 
tion of  the  history  of  redemption — 
and  accordingly  he  introduces  the 
name  Jehovah,  which  is  the  redemp- 
tive name  of  God,  as  God  enters  into 
history,  and  reveals  Himself  in  the 
new  creation.  The  name  Jehovah — 
from  the  future  of  the  Heb.  verb  "  to 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER    II. 


95 


5  And  every  e  plant  of  the  Held  before  it  was  in  the  earth,  and 
every  herb  of  the  field  before  it  grew:  for  the  Lord   God  had 


e  ch.  1  :  12  ;  Ps.  104  :  14. 


be," — expresses  the  idea  of  God  as 
He  should  reveal  Himself  more  and 
more  in  redemption.  He  who  shall 
be — Re,  who  is  to  come — the  comer, 
(Matt.  11  : 3.)  It  is  not  exclusively 
the  name  of  the  Second  Person  of 
the  Godhead,  (see  Ps.  110  : 1,)  but 
the  name  of  God  in  Christ,  reveal- 
ing Himself  in  history,  which  is  the 
history  of  redemption.  The  two 
names  are  here  combined — because 
here  is  the  connecting  link  between 
creation  and  redemption,  in  which 
God  appears  as  Creator  and  new  Crea- 
tor. God  dwelling  in  His  own  world, 
(John  1 :  11,)  as  a  Father,  and  Teach- 
er, and  Saviour.  That  the  use  of 
these  different  names  is  not  arbitary, 
nor  unmeaning,  nor  owing  to  differ- 
ent sources  of  the  history,  is  plainly 
stated  in  Exod.  6  :  3,  where  God  de- 
clares that  He  appeared  to  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob  by  the  name  of  God 
Almighty,  "but  by  my  name  Jehovah 
— in  my  character  as  Jehovah — was  I 
not  known  to  them."  (See  Heng. 
Pent.  p.  294.)  And  this  refers  to 
His  appearing  in  the  fuller  unfold- 
ing of  His  Divine  nature  to  perform 
what  He  had  promised  to  the  patri- 
archs. Abraham  said,  on  the  Mount, 
"Jehovah  jire7i," — Jehovah  will  ap- 
pear in  His  full  unfolding  of  Him- 
self, and  as  fulfilling  all  that  He  had 
promised.  So  Abraham  saw  Christ's 
day,  in  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac,  (John 
8  :  58,)  looking  forward  to  the  New 
Testament  Isaac — the  Great  Son  of 
Promise,  as  risen  from  the  dead — 
the  accepted  Redeemer. — (See  Intro- 
duction.) As  Elohim  is  the  more 
general  name  of  God,  and  Jehovah 
the  more  peculiar  name,  in  reference 
to  the  work  of  redemption,  we  shall 
S3e  how  they  alternate,  in  the  early 
period  preceding  the  complete  estab- 
lishment of  the  theocracy  more  than 
afterwards.  For  a  full  discussion  of 
the  Divine  names  see  Heng.  Pent. 
p.  292.    Observe.— (1.)  Our"transla- 


tors  have  only  in  four  instances  in 
the  Old  Testament  used  the  term 
Jehovah,  and  there  it  is  given  in 
capitals.  In  all  other  instances  they 
have  rendered  it  by  the  term  "  Lord," 
following  the  S&ptuagint  version, 
(Kvpior.)  (2.)  In  the  plural  term 
Elohim,  seems  to  be  couched  the 
mystery  of  the  Trinity.  In  the  term 
Jehovah,  the  mystery  of  the  Incarna- 
tion.— {Delitzsch.)  %  The  earth  and 
the  heavens.  This  phraseology  calls 
our  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
creative  work  of  the  six  days  was 
the  making  of  the  earth  and  the 
heavens — a  work  different  from  that 
referred  to  (ch.  1  :  1.)  the  creation  of 
the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Here  it 
is  the  earth  and  the  atmospheric 
heavens,  as  an  appendage,  that  are 
referred  to  as  having  been  made  in 
the  six  days'  work,  and  it  is  the  his- 
tory of  our  planet,  and  of  what  per- 
tains to  it,  especially  the  history  of 
man  upon  it,  that  follows  in  the  in- 
spired narrative.  The  phrase  is 
here  expressed  indefinitely  —  earth 
and  heaven — without  the  article,  be- 
cause sufficiently  defined.  So  in  Ps. 
148  :  13,  "  His  glory  is  above  earth 
and  heaven."  Some  suppose  that 
the  reference  here  is  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  earth  as  dry  land,  and  of 
the  heaven  as  firmament,  (ch.  1  :  8, 
10.)  And  that  the  narrative  goes 
back  to  the  period  prior  to  plants  on 
the  third  day,  and  that  the  meaning 
is,  "  In  the  day  when  God  made  the 
earth  and  the  heavens,  (ch.  1  : 8,  10,) 
then  there  was  no  plant  in  the 
earth." 

5.  And  every  plant  of  the  field,  etc. 
This  verse  is  made  in  our  version  to 
depend  on  the  preceding.  But  more 
literally  it  begins  a  sentence,  and 
reads,  "  Now  no  plant  of  the  field  was 
yet  in  the  earth,  and  no  herb  of  the 
field  yet  grew."  The  narrative,  in 
order  to  introduce  us  to  the  planting 
of  Eden,  begins  back  with  the  third 


96 


GENESIS. 


[13.  G  4102. 


not  f  caused  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth,  and  there  was  not  a  man 
e  to  till  the  ground. 

6  But  there  went  up  a  mist  from  the  earth,  and  watered  the 
whole  face  of  the  ground. 


f  Job  33  :  26,  27,  28.     g  ch.  3  :  23. 


day  of  creation ;  and  while  referring1 
to  the  preternatural  origin  of  the 
vegetable  world,  ifc  especially  calls 
attention  to  the  laws  of  vegetable 
propagation,  with  a  view  to  show  us 
the  place  of  man  in  the  garden  as  a 
tiller  of  the  ground.  The  field  is 
the  open  plain — the  outside  country 
— as  distinguished  from  the  garden 
enclosure,  which  was  the  centre  of 
vegetation.  Plant  of  the  field,  and 
herb  of  fie  field  mean  here  such 
plants  and  herbs  as  spring  from 
propagation :  and  what  is  meant  is, 
that  though  the  plants  were  created 
full  grown  and  seed-bearing,  (ch. 
1  :  11,  12,)  yet  none  had,  as  yet, 
propagated,  nor  had  any  sprung 
from  then.  The  laws  of  propaga- 
tion from  the  seed,  each  after  its 
kind,  we:e  not  yet  in  operation. 
And  the  reasons  are  given,  (1.)  There 
was  as  yet.  no  rain.  (2.)  There  was, 
as  yet,  no  cultivator  of  the  soil. 
This  leads  the  narrator  to  vs.  G,  in 
which  the  rain  is  provided  for,  and 
to  vs.  7,  in  which  the  man  is  fur- 
nished fo  ,*  the  work :  Adam  (from 
adamah — soil,)  man  of  the  soil.  Thus 
the  function  of  man  is  brought  to 
view  in  relation  to  the  garden  where 
he  was  located.  Thus  far  nothing 
in  the  whole  vegetable  world  had 
resulted  from  the  natural  laws  of 
seed,  propagation  and  growth,  even 
of  herbage.  This  was  the  state  of 
things  on  the  third  day.  Notice 
now  is  taken  of  the  first  operation 
of  the  laws  of  rain. 

6.  A  mist  went  up  from  the  earth. 
This  exhalation  from  the  soil  had 
been  going  on  since  the  waters  were 
separated  from  the  land  ;  and  now 
forming  into  clouds  it  becomes  con- 
densed, and  falls  in  rain,  so  as  to 
promote  tne  richest  vegetation.  On 
the  fourth  day  the   second  natural 


process  begins.  The  swelling  buds, 
and  shooting  grass,  and  sprouting 
seeds,  and  striking  roots,  all  show 
the  operations  of  nature  to  be  at 
work,  according  to  the  declared 
principles  of  the  creation,  (ch.  1 :  12,) 
"the  herb  seeding  seed  after  its 
kind,"  etc.  Benisch,  (Jew.  Bib.)  has 
it,  "  And  every  plant  of  the  field  was 
not  yet  in  the  earth."  Havernick 
understands  it  to  mean,  that  "  the 
vegetable  kingdom  had  not  yet 
bloomed  forth  in  its  complete  beauty 
when  man  was  formed,  but  it  was 
prepared  by  the  mist  that  watered 
the  ground,"  (p.  QQ.)  As  in  ch.  1  :  12, 
it  was  stated  that  the  earth  pro- 
duced the  plants,  here  their  perfect 
formation  is  mentioned,  and  this  is 
noted  here  to  show  in  what  circum- 
stances the  first  man  found  himself 
placed.  "  Now  no  plant  of  the  field 
was  yet  in  the  earth,  and  no  herb 
of  the  field  had  yet  sprung  up." 
DeSola  understands  it  that  the 
germ  had  been  created,  but  its 
development  was  left  to  the  ordi- 
nary processes  of  nature.  The  Sept., 
Vulg.,  and  Luther  agree  with  our 
version. 

j[  But  a  mist — showing  how  the 
rain  was  provided.  The  Arab,  and 
Jun.,  and  Tremell,  read, "  Neither  had 
a  mist  arisen  from  the  earth  and 
watered,"  etc.  The  copulative  some- 
times carries  with  it  the  sense  of  the 
negative  going  before.  If,  however, 
we  understand  it  according  to  our 
version,  then  we  take  it  (with  Muscu- 
lus,  etc.,)  to  signify  that  God  preferred 
to  put  in  operation  now,  after  the 
creation,  this  simple  means  of 
growth  ;  and  that  the  rain  was  thus 
to  proceed  from  the  vapors  of  the 
earth  which  ascended  under  the 
heat  of  the  sun,  then  cooling  and 
descending    to    irrigate    the  earth. 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER   II. 


97 


7  And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  h  dnst  of  the  ground, 
and  i  breathed  into  his  k  nostrils  the  breath  of  life ;  and  l  man  be- 
came a  living  soul. 


h  ch.  3  :  19,  23  ;  Ps.  103  :  14 ;    Eccl.  12  ;  T  ;    Isa.  64  :  8  ; 
17  :  25.    k  ch.  7  :  22 ;  Isa.  2  :  22.    1 1  Cor.  15  :  45. 


1  Cor.  15  :  47.     i  Job  33  :  4  ;   Acts 


This  philosophy  of  rain  is  elsewhere 
given  in  Job,  ( 36  :  27, )  showing 
throughout  the  Scriptures,  the  pro- 
foundest  knowledge  of  natural  sci- 
ence. The  forms  of  the  verbs  here 
used  show  that  an  operation  is  com- 
menced and  continued,  as  cause  and 
effect — the  mist  ascending  as  vapor, 
and  coming  down,  watering,  in  the 
form  of  rain  : — not  that  the  mist  was 
instead  of  rain. 

§  10.    Formation   of    Adam,    de- 
tailed   IN    REFERENCE    TO    HIS 

Moral  History.    Ch.  2  :  7. 

7.  Here,  as  preparatory  to  the  ac- 
count of  man's  location  in  Eden,  it 
is  stated  that  the  Lord  God  formed 
the  man  (of)  the  dust  of  the  ground. 
It  had  not  been  stated  in  the  ac- 
count of  man's  creation  on  the  sixth 
day,  that  he  was  formed  out  of  the 
dust.  In  ch.  1  :  27  it  was  the  term 
"  create  "  that  was  used  in  reference 
to  man  as  spirit,  in  regard  to  the 
Divine  image  in  the  soul  of  man. 
"So  God  created  man  in  His  own 
image," — and  this  is  repeated  there 
for  emphasis,  "  in  the  image  of  God 
created  He  him."  And  as  it  refers 
not  merely  to  Adam,  but  to  the  race 
as  represented  in  both  progenitors, 
it  is  added,  "male  and  female  created 
He  them."  Here,  however,  in  this 
after  statement,  the  reference  is  to 
man's  bodily  constitution,  and  loca- 
tion, and  vocation,  and  the  term 
used  in  the  Hebrew  is  "formed,"  not 
"created."  Hence  it  is  here  stated 
only  of  what  material  man  was 
formed,  as  to  his  body.  There  is 
no  contradiction,  but  the  most  en- 
tire consistency  in  the  two  state- 
ments. There  is  no  mere  repetition, 
but  an  addition  here  in  order  to  the 
greatest  fulness  of  the  record.  Here 
too,  it  is  the  man,  Adam,  who  is 


thus  particularly  noticed.  The  con- 
nexion between  man  and  the  ground 
appears  in  the  Hebrew,  "  He  formed 
the  man,  (the  Adam,)  (out  of)  the 
dust  of  (fvom)  the  ground,"  (Adamah.) 
"  Let  foolish  men  now  go  and  boast 
of  the  excellency  of  their  nature." — 
Calvin.  Science  has  shown  that  the 
elements  of  the  soil  on  the  earth's 
surface,  and  the  limestone  in  the 
earth's  bowels,  are  the  very  same  as 
enter  into  the  bones,  sinews,  and 
flesh  of  men.  So  man  is  said  to  be 
formed  of  the  clay,  (Job  33  :  6,)  of 
the  dust,  (Eccles.  3  :  20 ;  12  :  7.)  And 
death  is  spoken  of  as  a  return  to  the 
dust,  (Job  10  :  9  ;  34  :  15  ;  Ps.  146  : 4.) 
So  the  New  Testament  speaks  of 
Adam,  "the  first  man  is  of  the 
earth,  earthy,"  (1  Cor.  15  :  47.)  There 
was  a  meaning  in  this  humble  origin 
of  man's  body — that  it  was  to  re- 
turn to  the  dust.  Yet  how  "  fear- 
fully and  wonderfully  is  man  made," 
(Ps.  139  :  14.)  *[  And  breathed  into 
his  nostrils,  etc.  Besides  the  mere 
physical  nature  of  man  which  he  has 
in  common  with  the  lower  animals, 
there  is  noted  here  this  distinguish- 
ing characteristic — the  inbreathiug 
of  the  breath  of  the  Almighty, 
which  is  not  mentioned  as  belong- 
ing to  any  other  of  the  animal  crea- 
tion. <t[  Breath  of  life—\\t.,  breath 
of  lives,  E^h  tyisii},  nishmath  7iayimt 
is  peculiar  to  tliis  passage,  and  is 
never  applied  directly  to  brutes. 
This  term  nishmath — breath — is  not 
the  same  as  ruah — spirit.  Auberlen 
calls  it  the  ruah — spirit  in  its  activity. 
In  ch.  6  :  17  and  7  :  15  the  ruah  hay- 
yim  is  used  of  beasts';  and  in  ch. 
7  :  22  the  united  expression  nishmath 
ruah  hayyim  is  used,  and  is  made  so 
large  as  to  cover  both  beasts  and 
men.  But  this  may  be  only  as  we 
use  the  superior  term  to  include  the 
inferior. 


GENESIS. 


fB.  C.  4102. 


Observe. — (1.)  It  is  not  the  earth 
which  brings  forth  man's  body  by 
God's  creative  word — but  he  lays 
His  hand  to  the  work  and  fashions 
him.  (2.)  This  is  done  not  out  of 
the  earthy  lump,  or  mass,  but  out 
of  the  fine  dust  of  the  earth. 
(3.)  God  immediately,  along  with 
his  body,  imparts  the  living  princi- 
ple, (not  first  the  body  and  then  the 
life,  or  soul,)  and  so  the  man  becomes 
a  living  personality  corresponding  to 
the  Personality  of  God.  (4.)  As  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man  is  denoted  by  ^ 
this  inbreathing  of  God,  so  the' 
name  Adam,  given  by  God  to  the 
man,  (ch.  5  :  2,)  is  from  the  earthy 
element  —  adamah  —  ground  —  man 
of  the  soil.     (See  ch.  5  :  2,  notes.) 

Some  understand  the  plural  form 
here  as  expressing  the  different  liv- 
ing principles  which  belong  to  man 
—as  1.  Natural  life,  by  which  the 
body  exists.  2.  Vegetative  life,  by 
which  it  grows.  3.  Spiritual  life, 
which  consists  in  the  Divine  grace 
imparted.  Some  make  it  the  plural 
of  eminence,  or,  as  an  abstract  noun, 
it  may  be  simply  equivalent  to  the 
singular  form — though  it  seems  to 
be  used  with  a  special  force.  See 
ch.  3  :  22,  24 ;  see,  also,  ch.  2:9; 
3  :  14, 17  ;  6  :  17  ;  7  :  15.  As  it  is  by 
breathing  that  man  lives  naturally, 
and  shows  himself  alive,  so  the  liv- 
ing breath  is  here  referred  to  as  im- 
parted directly  by  God.  This  second 
act  of  God  in  the  case  of  man,  is 
that  which  gives  him  his  crowning 
distinction  above  all  other  animals. 
See  Acts  17  :  28,  29,  "We  are  the  off- 
spring of  God."  Job  32  :  8  ;  33  :  4. 
■*[  And  man  became  a  living  soul, 
(n-ri  '«??.,)  literally,  "living  crea- 
ture" and  so  it  is  commonlv  ren- 
dered, ch.  1  :  21,  24  ;  ch.  9  :  10,  12, 15, 
10.  The  term  wp$  means  simply 
life,  or  person,  and  the  whole  phrase 
means  animated  creature.  But  this 
phrase  is  also  applied  to  the  inferior 
animals.  And  so  man  is  called  an 
animal,  but  he  is  more.  Calvin  un- 
derstands the  phrase  here  of  the 
mere     vital    breath.      Kurtz,    and 


others,  take  it  to  include  the  higher 
nature — the  Divine  life.  In  1  Cor. 
15  :  45  it  is  expressed  by  t/w,\'-7  £><ra, 
"a  living  soul."  "The  first  Adam 
was  made  a  living  soul;  the  last 
Adam  was  made  a  quickening  (life- 
giving)  spirit."  In  Eccles.  3:21,  the 
spirit  of  man,  (it  is  said,)  goeth  up- 
ward, and  the  spirit  of  the  beast 
goeth  downward.  See,  also,  Eccles. 
12  :  7.  Man's  essential  superiority 
to  the  animal  tribes  is  plainly  signi- 
fied, ch.  1  :  28,  27,  as  being  create! 
in  the  image  of  God,  and  with  a 
capability,  and  a  commission  to  have 
dominion  over  the  lower  animal 
tribes,  and  over  all  the  earth.  And 
this  special  act  of  God  in  imparting 
to  man  the  living  principle  which 
characterizes  him,  shows  plainly  as 
language  can  do,  that  he  is  not  of 
the  same  species  as  "  the  brutes  that 
perish."  The  Divine  life  seems  to 
be  included  in  this  phraseology  just 
as  Jesus  is  said  to  have  given  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  His  disciples  in  this 
manner,  "  He  breathed  on  them  and 
said.  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 
This  moral  image — the  likeness  of 
God — was  certainly  imparted  to  the 
man,  and  Adam  so  lived  the  Divine 
life  until  his  temptation  and  fall. 
This  breath  of  life  was  something 
not  formed,  (as  the  body,)  but  impart- 
ed— derived  from  God :  part  of  His 
life — His  very  breath. 

§11.  Adam's  Location  in  the 
'  Garden  op  Eden.    Ch  2  :  8-17. 

The  narrative  in  this  chapter, 
including  that  of  the  creation  of 
woman,  would  seem  to  belong  to  the 
third  and  sixth  days'  work,  and  is 
here  given  as  supplementary.  We 
are  now  further  informed  that  the 
man  was  placed  in  a  position  for  exer- 
cising his  active  powers  in  the  sphere 
appointed  by  God.  A  spot,  every 
way  fitted  for  him  by  his  Maker,  was  . 
assigned  to  him — in  which  he  had 
work  to  do,  repaying  his  active  at-  I 
tention.  In  the  culture  of  the  gar- 
den he  was,  also,  to  cultivate  his 
own  energies,  and  develop  the  re- 


B  0.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  II. 


1)3 


8  T  And  tne  ^>ort>  God  planted  m  a  garden  n  eastward  in 
°  Eden  ;  and  there  P  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had  formed. 

9  And  out  of  the  ground  made  the -Lord  God  to  grow  q  every 
tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food ;  r  the  tree 
of  life  also  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  s  and  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge of  crood  and  evil. 


m  ch 

13: 

10 

,  Isa. 

51: 

3  ;  Ez.  28 

:18 

;  Joel  2 

:3. 

n  ch. 

3: 

24. 

o  ch 

4: 

16;  2 

Kings 

10: 

12; 

F.S5. 

27: 

23. 

p  vs.  15 

q 

Ezek.  31  : 

8. 

r  ch.  3  : 

■  >■■> . 

Prov. 

3 

:  18 

11  : 

30 

;  Rev. 

2 

7 

22 

:  a, 

14. 

s  vs.  17 

sources  of  his  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  being.  The  garden  was  also 
a  type  of  the  Paradise  above. 

8.  And  Jehovah  God  planted  a  gar- 
den, (enclosure.)  The  term  here 
used  is  translated  by  the  Greek  Par- 
adise. So,  also,  by  the  Syr.  Vulg. 
and  Samar.  Vers.  This  word  "  Par- 
adise "  belongs  to  the  Semitish  lan- 
guages, and  has  been  transferred  to 
our  own.  (Sanscrit — paradeca,  a 
region  of  beauty;  Arm. — pardes,  a 
park.)  It  seems  to  be  implied  here 
that  the  spot  was  purposely  made 
to  be  of  superior  beauty — quite  be- 
yond any  other  portion  of  the  earth. 
Xenophon  says  that  the  beautiful 
gardens  of  the  Persian  kings  were 
called  Paradises.  The  term  is  used 
in  the  New  Testament  as  a  name  for 
heaven,  2  Cor.  12  :  4 ;  Luke  23  :  43. 
The  location  of  this  garden  is  said 
to  have  been  eastward,  \\t.,from 
before,  or,  from  tlie  east — that  is, 
(east  of  Palestine.)  Some  under- 
stand it  the  east  part  of  Eden.  The 
site  is  more  particularly  described  as 
in  Eden.  This  word  means  pleasure, 
delight;  Greek  fydovij, pleasure.  The 
Oriental  names  are  commonly  signi- 
ficant. The  Vulg.  reads  paradise  of 
delight.  It  would  seem  that  Eden 
was  an  extensive  region  in  the  high 
table-land  of  Armenia,  and  Paradise 
may  have  been  at  the  eastern  part 
of  it.  It  is  chiefly  to  be  identified 
by  the  rivers  that  are  named,  (vs.  10.) 
This  was  most  likely  the  name 
which  the  region  had  in  the  time  of 
Moses.  Whether  it  was  given  to  it 
by  our  first  parents,  or  by  God  Him- 
self, we  cannot  tell.  The  term  gan, 
{''garden")  or  guarded  place — is  used 


in  distinction  from  the  open  field — 
(sadheh.)  Nod  lay  to  the  east  of 
Eden,  ch.  4  :  16. 

9.  It  is  here  declared  that  out  of 
the  ground  Jehovah  God  caused  to 
sprout  forth  every  tree  pleasant  for 
sight,  and  good  for  food.  We  are 
not  to  understand  that  this  was  a 
garden  planted  after  the  creation — 
but  this  part  of  the  third  day's  crea- 
tion is  now  more  particularly  des- 
cribed, because  here  the  man  is 
located  for  his  trial.  There  was  no 
lack  of  delights.  The  most  exuber- 
ant provision  was  made  for  man's 
enjoyment,  in  the  richest  varieties 
of  fruit.  This  is  stated  here  to 
show  how  unreasonable  was  the 
violation  of  that  law  of  God,  which 
reserved  only  one  tree  of  all, 
that  was  not  to  be  eaten  by  man. 
"  Shameful  ingratitude  of  the  crea- 
ture that  he  could  not  rest  in  a 
state  so  happy  and  desirable.  Abun- 
dant supply  of  food,  besides  sweet- 
ness for  the  palate  and  beauty  for 
the  eyes."  In  all  this  he  had  the 
fullest  evidence  of  the  paternal 
bounty  under  which  he  lived.  The 
Paradise  lost  is  to  be  regained.  See 
Isa.  51  :  3,  "  He  will  make  her  wil- 
derness like  Eden,  and  her  desert  like 
the  garden  of  the  Lord."  ^[  The  tree 
of  life  also.  In  the  midst  of  these  vari- 
ous and  delicious  fruits  there  was  the 
tree  of  life,  (lives.)  The  plural  of  emi- 
nence this  may  be,  or,  simply  an  ab- 
stract for  the  singular.  This  was  the 
tree  having  such  a  quality  and  mean- 
ing as  to  be  a  memorial  of  the  life 
bestowed  by  God,  (perhaps,  also,  a 
means  of  preserving  it,)  and  the  sign 
and  seal  of  immortal  life  promised 


100 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


to  obedience.  The  name  itself  means 
more  than  a  living  tree — "  as  the 
water  of  life," — 'the  bread  of  life." 
And  it  was  doubtless  a  symbol  and 
pledge  of  the  blessed  life  which 
should  continue  to  be  enjoyed  per- 
petually by  our  first  parents  so  long 
as  they  continued  in  their  obedience. 
It  was,  therefore,  to  b'e  partaken  as 
a  sacrament — and  was,  doubtless, 
often  so  eaten  during  the  state  of 
innocence.  Some  think  it  was  par- 
taken weekly  on  the  Sabbath  in 
Eden.  Augustine  says,  "  In  the 
other  trees  there  was  nourishment. 
In  this  there  was  also  a  sacrament." 
In  this  light,  also,  it  pointed  forward 
to  Him  "  in  whom  is  life,  and  the 
life  is  the  light  of  men,"  John  1  :  4, 
— in  whom  alone  the  tree  of  life  and 
the  tree  of  knowledge  may  both  be 
found,  with  all  their  blessed  fruits. 
See  Prov.  3  :  18.  He  is  "  the  way, 
and  the  truth,  and  the  life,"  John 
14  :  6, — "  the  resurrection  and  the 
life,"  John  11  :  25.  In  the  Revela- 
tion, John  sees  the  tree  of  life  that 
had  been  lost  by  the  fall.  It  is  "  in 
the  midst  of  the  street  of  the  city, 
and  on  either  side  of  the  river  " — pub- 
lic property,  and  accessible  to  all  the 
blest  inhabitants,  Rev.  22  :  2,  14. 
See  Ezek.  47  :  12  ;  see,  also,  ch.  3  :  22, 
and  compare  John  6  :  51.  This  tree 
of  life  was  in  contrast  with  the  tree 
of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
the  eating  of  which  was  death.  Or 
it  may  be  understood  that  as  every 
covenant  has  two  parts,  a  promise 
and  a  requirement,  so  there  may  be 
two  corresponding  sacraments — the 
one  a  sign  and  seal  of  the  thing- 
promised — the  other,  chiefly  a  sign 
and  seal  of  the  thing  required.  The 
tree  of  life,  on  the  one  part,  would 
thus  set  forth  and  seal  the  promised 
life — the  tree  of  knowledge  would  set 
forth  and  seal  on  the  other  part,  the 
required  obedience,  as  thus  tested  in 
the  simple  prohibition. — See  Cand- 
lish  on  Genesis.  It  has  frequently 
been  asserted  that  the  Pentateuch 
does  not  allude  to  the  doctrine  of 
immortality.  But  surely,  it  treats  it 
in  its   highest,   innermost  bearings 


here   in   the    opening   chapters   of 
Genesis. 

Observe. — Though  the  phrase 
"  in,  the  midst "  may  mean  merely 
that  it  was  inside,  yet  it  would  seem 
to  mean  more,  and  as  in  Rev.  22  :  2, 
to  signify  that  it  was  most  conspic- 
uous and  accessible.  Some  under- 
stand that  there  were  many  trees  of 
this  class  scattered  through  the  gar- 
den. But  as  we  find  the  pronoun  in 
the  singular,  it  is  to  be  inferred  that 
there  was  only  a  single  specimen  of 
each  tree.  See  vs.  17,  and  ch.  3  :  3. 
^[  The  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil  was  so  called  not  merely  as  a 
test  for  proving  man,  and  showing 
whether  he  would  choose  the  good 
or  the  evil — nor,  merely  because  by 
eating  it  he  would  come  to  know 
both  good  and  evil,  and  the  evil  so 
that  he  would  know  the  good  in  the 
new  light  of  contrast  with  the  evil. 
Both  these  were  involved.  But  it 
was  set  also  as  a  symbol  of  the  Di- 
vine knowledge  to  which  man  should 
not  aspire,  but  to  which  he  should 
submit  his  own  judgment  and 
knowledge.  The  positive  prohibi- 
tion was  to  be  a  standing  discipline 
of  the  human  reason,  and  a  standing 
symbol  of  the  limitation  of  relig- 
ious thought.  Man  was  to  have  life, 
not  by  following  out  his  own  opin- 
ions and  counsels,  but  by  faith  and 
the  unqualified  submission  of  his 
intellect  and  will  to  God.  No  reason 
is  here  given  for  this,  except  in  the 
name  of  the  tree,  and  the  nature  of 
the  penalty.  God  would  not  have 
him  know  evil.  Sin  was  already  an 
invader  of  His  universe  in  the  fallen 
angels.  Evil  was,  therefore,  a  real- 
ity. Man  was  interdicted  from  that 
kind  of  knowledge  which  is  evil,  or, 
which  includes  evil — because  of  it- 
self in  its  own  nature,  it  leads  him 
to  death.  Thus  this  is,  therefore, 
not  a  mere  arbitrary  appointment. 
It  has  grounds  in  the  evident  nature 
of  things.  Nor  was  the  penalty  de- 
nounced against  the  transgression 
arbitrary.  The  disobedience  was 
itself  necessarily  death.  The  curse 
could  not  have  been  less  than  it  was. 


R  C.  4103. j  CHAPTER  II.  101 

10  And  a  river  went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the  garden :    and 
from  thence  it  was  parted,  and  became  into  four  heads. 


The  act  itself  was  a  disruption  of 
the  tie  which  bound  man  to  his 
Maker,  and  by  which  alone  he  could 
live,  (see  notes,  vs.  16.)  The  knowl- 
edge of  evil,  sadly  enough,  lay  in 
the  partaking-  of  that  tree.  Man 
already  had  the  knowledge  of  good, 
and  a  moral  sense  of  the  eternal  dis- 
tinction between  right  and  wrong. 
But  good  and  evil,  iu  all  their  mu- 
tual bearings,  he  could  not  presume 
to  know  by  contact  and  experience 
as  he  aspired  and  claimed  to  know 
them  under  the  promise  of  Satan. 
We  hear  no  more  of  this  tree.  It 
served  its  purpose  in  the  garden. 
We  hear  of  the  tree  of  life.  The 
act  of  partaking  was  an  encroach- 
ment upon  the  Divine  prerogative. 
This  tree  was  sst  to  bs  to  man  the 
occasion  of  the  highest  Divine 
knowledge,  in  the  training  of  his 
thoughts  to  subjection,  and  in  the 
contemplation  of  God's  prerogatives 
of  knowledge.  The  highest  reason 
accords  to  God  this  claim — and  ren- 
ders the  profoundest  submission  of 
the  human  mind  and  will  to  God — 
to  His  plan  of  Providence  and  grace. 
So  the  renewed  man  cries  out,  "  O 
the  depth  of  the  riches,  both  of  the 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God." 
Christ  crucified  is  the  wisdom  of 
God,  and  the  power  of  God,  unto 
salvation.  Grace  and  truth  came  by 
Jesus  Christ.  Man  was  prohibited 
from  laying  hold  of  this  fruit  that 
was  held  to  be  under  the  Divine 
prerogative.  And  it  is  just  at  this 
point  that  Satan  has  always  plied 
his  most  artful  and  powerful  temp- 
tation. And  just  here,  in  taking 
what  is  forbidden — and  in  refus- 
ing all  subjection  and  limitation 
of  religious  thought,  man  has  al- 
ways fallen  under  the  curse.  "  Pro- 
fessing themselves  to  be  wise 
they  became  fools."  This  is  the 
spirit  of  our  fallen  race,  that  in 
every  age,  keeps  man  out  of 
Paradise.     And  this  is  the  mark  of 


Anti-Christ  "sitting  in  the  temple 
of  God,  showing  ( exhibiting )  him- 
self that  he  is  God,"  (2  Thess.  2  :  4.) 
Hence,  also,  cherubim — the  angels 
of  knowledge — are  set  with  the 
"  flaming  sword  to  keep  (guard)  the 
way  of  the  tree  of  life,"  (ch.  3  :  24.) 
This  tree  was  also,  as  Luther  says, 
a  sign  for  man's  worship  and  rever- 
ent obedience  of  God,  and  so  it 
would  represent  the  homage  due  to 
God's  word,  as  the  revelation  of 
God's  truth — of  His  mind  and  will 
to  men. 

10.  And  a  river  issued  out  of  Eden 
— was  issuing.  The  verb  here  used 
refers  to  the  issuing  out  of  the 
ground  ;  and  the  meaning  is,  that 
an  abundant  supply  of  water  was 
furnished  in  the  wide  district  of 
Eden — to  water  the  garden,  and  so 
generally  diffused  as  to  serve  the 
purpose  of  irrigation,  and  to  make 
it  a  well  watered  region.  *fi  And 
from  thence  it  was  parted.  This 
ample  supply  of  water  from  numer- 
ous springs — in  numerous  brooks 
and  streams — so  arranged  as  to  fur- 
nish the  best  irrigation,  and  leave  no 
part  of  the  garden  dry — was  parted, 
or  parted  itself  from  thence — that  is, 
outside  of  the  garden,  it  was  divided 
into  distinct  rivers,  and  became  four 
heads,  or  principal  streams.  This  is 
the  sense  of  the  term  heads.  Onke- 
los — "head-streams."  Sam.  Vers. — 
"  heads  of  rivers."  So  Luther,  Ros- 
enmiitter,  etc.  The  reading  here 
given  avoids  the  many  difficulties 
of  the  many  other  renderings  that 
have  been  suggested.  Bush  makes 
"from  thence,"  to  refer  to  that  time 
— "from  that  period"  geographical 
distinctions  arose,  and  the  rivers 
were  assigned  to  particular  districts 
embraced  in  the  original  whole. 
But  this  is  not  the  sense  of  the 
terms. 

11.  The  name  of  the  first  (river)  is 
Pison,  (see  vs.  13.)  Some  have 
found  the  four  rivers  rising  withir 


103 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102 


1 1   The  name  of  the  first  is  Pison  :  that  is  it  which  compasseth 
u  the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  where  there  is  gold ; 

u  cli.  25  :  is. 


tlie  circuit  of  a  few  niiles — in  the 
high  lauds  of  Armenia,  and  besides 
the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  which  are 
coufessedly  two  of  them,  they  make 
the  Pison,  to  be  the  Phasis,  or  Halys, 
flowing  northwesterly  into  the  Black 
Sea.  This  river  rises  in  the  Moschus 
mountains,  and  flows  along  by  Col- 
chis, (Havilah,)  (Chabala,)  the  ancient 
gold-land,  where  "was  the  golden 
fleece  of  the  Argonautic  expedition. 
The  remaining  river  would  then  be 
the  Araxes — which  means  the  same 
as  Gihon,  i.  e.,  "  bursting  forth,  and 
which  retains  its  name  among  the 
Persians — r^A,  (giah,)  being  equiva- 
lent to  aparro) — to  break  forth.  It 
rises,  also,  in  the  high  table-lands  of 
Armenia,  and  falls  into  the  Caspian 
Sea.  This  theory  is  objected  to  by 
those  who  understand  the  river,  (vs. 
10,)  to  denote  a  single  stream.  But 
this,  we  have  shown,  is  not  the 
more  probable  sense.  The  other 
principal  theory  is  that  the  two  un- 
known rivers  are  the  Indus,  (Pison,) 
and  the  2iile,  (Gihon.)  And  the  lat- 
ter has  been  inferred  from  the  men- 
tion of  Ethiopia,  (or  Cush.)  But 
Cush  is  a  name  which  applies  to 
other  regions,  (as  Arabia.)  And 
"  Gihon  "  is  a  name  never  applied  to 
the  Nile  in  the  Old  Testament.  And 
the  Nile  does  not  compass  Ethiopia. 
Besides  it  seems  highly  improbable 
that  this  region  of  Eden  should 
have  extended  over  so  large  a  space 
on  two  continents.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  the  Cushites  may  have 
moved  southward — as  the  Norwe- 
gians brought  with  them  their  Nor- 
mandy, and  the  Greeks  their  Hellas 
into  Italy,  (see  vs.  13,  note.)  The 
fathers  and  Josephus  have  made  the 
Pison  to  be  the  Ganges,  and  Havilah 
to  be  India.  Calvin  understands  the 
description  here  given  by  Moses  to 
refer  to  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates 
alone,  which  unite  in  the  region  of 


Eden,  parting  into  two  channels  to 
the  north  toward  their  source,  and 
into  two,  again,  at  the  south,  toward 
the  Persian  Gulf,  where  they  empty. 
1  The    river  is   further  described   as 
that  which  compasseth — not    in    the 
sense  of  surrounding,  but  of  wind- 
ing  along  the  whole  land  of  (the)  Ha- 
ri'ah.     This  land  has  its  name  from 
the  first  great  possessor  of  it.     Ha- 
vilah was   the  son   of  Cush,  whose 
land  is  spoken  of  in  vs.  13,  as  "  Ethi- 
opia," (literallv,  the  whole  land  of 
Cash.)     See  Gen.  10  :  7 ;  25  :  18.     If 
Havilah  be  the  ancient  Colchis,  at 
I  the  eastern  border  of  the  Black  Sea, 
according  to  the  above  description, 
!  then,  also,  the  land  of  Cush  would 
be  the  country  of  the  Cosseans,  near 
Media  and  the  Caspian.     The  people 
I  called  Chevalissi,  who  lived  between 
!  the  Caspian  and  the  Volga,  retained 
I  the  ancient  name  of  Chavilah.    And 
\  after  them  the  Caspian  Sea  is  still 
:  called   Chicalinskoye  Mose.      (G.  F. 
Muller,    Paumer's    Palest.)      They 
who  adopt  the  view  that  the  region 
extended  into  India,  hold  that  this 
Havilah  was  the  son  of  Joktan,  of 
the   race  of  Shem,  whose  territory 
was    east    of    Persia,    the    country 
watered  by  the  Indus,  called  by  mod- 
:  erns  Cabul,  which  corresponds  with 
i  the  name  Havilah,  in  the  Oriental 
]  pronunciation.       See    Gen.    10  :  29. 
i  But  against  this  is  the  description  of 
the  products  of  the  land  which  do 
I  not  answer  to  this  locality.     And  the 
article  here  before  Havilah  (the  Ha- 
vilah,) distinguishes  it  from  the  later 
'  Havilah. — (See  Eeil,   and   Del,  and 
i  Rosen muller.     We   should   think  it 
much  more  probable  that  the  Gihon 
was  the  Araxes  than  the  Nile.     And 
the  chief  questiou   is   between   the 
Pha&is,  or  Halys,  and  the  Indus,  as 
to  whether  of  these  two  is  the  Pison. 
We  suppose  that  ail  of  the  rivers 
had  their  rise  within  the  garden, 


B.C.  4102 .] 


CHAPTER  II. 


103 


12  And  the  gold  of  that  land  is  good :  w  there  is  bdellium  and 
the  onyx-stone. 

13  And  the  name  of  the  second  river  is  Gihon:  the  same  is  it 
that  compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Ethiopia. 

14  And  the  name  of  the  third  river  is  x  Hiddekel:  that  is  it 

w  Numb.  11:7.     x  Dan.  10  :  4. 


and  from  thence  flowed  in  diverging 
courses,  and  became  four  heads,  or 
principal  streams.  Further  geo- 
graphical researches  will  doubtless 
throw  increased  light  on  this  locality 
— and  for  the  present,  we  can  afford 
to  leave  two  of  the  rivers  in  some 
doubt.  There  are  those  who  con- 
tend that  geological  changes,  com- 
paratively recent,  have  altered  the 
courses  of  the  rivers  so  as  to  forbid 
their  being  identified.  It  is  believed 
that  the  junction  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates  is  of  recent  date.  So 
Lyell,  and  others. 

12.  The  gold  of  that  land  is  good — 
{fine,  2  Chron.  3  :  5,  same  word.) 
"[  There  is  bdellium.  Heb.,  bdollah. 
Some  understand  this  of  an  aromatic 
gum  oozing  from  the  tree  growing 
in  Arabia  and  the  Indies — a  kind  of 
mastic,  like  gum-Arabic,  such  as  is 
yet  used  in  Oriental  cities  as  an  arti- 
cle of  food — and  which  some  take  to 
have  been  the  manna  of  the  wilder- 
ness, though  without  any  ground. 
It  is  more  commonly  held  to  be  a 
pearl,  having  the  color  of  the  manna, 
which  was  white,  Exod.  18  :  14,  31. 
So  the  At.,  Saad.,  Or.,  Ven.,  Talm. 
The  Sept.  render  it  here  "  carbuncle." 
The  mention  of  the  onyx  stone  along 
with  it  would  not  prove  it  to  be  a 
precious  stone;  for  aromatics  are 
named  with  gems  and  gold  ;  as  in  1 
Kings  10  :  2,  10,—Tuch.  It  must 
have  been  familiarly  known  among 
the  Hebrews,  Num.  11  :  7.  1  The 
onyx  stone.  This  is  by  many  ren- 
dered "beryl."  Sept.,  Onk.,  Ps.  Jon., 
etc.  Others,  sardonyx.  Aqu.,  Theod., 
Symm.,  Vulg. — Muhammed  Ben 
Manmr,  in  a  work  on  the  precious 
stones  of  the  Caucasus,  names  three 
kinds  of  onyx. — Mines  del' Oriental. 


136.  This  was  one  of  the  gems  on 
the  breast-plate  of  the  high  priest, 
Exod.  28  :  9,  10. 

13.  Gihon.  This  term  means  a 
bursting  foi*th,  as  from  a  fountain. 
Gesenius  remarks  that  "the  Arabs 
use  their  cognate  term  of  large  riv- 
ers, as  the  Ganges  and  Araxes." 
Though  he  holds  this  river  to  be  the 
Nile,  and  though  this  was  held  by 
early  writers,  we  think  the  term 
Gush,  (which  is  the  objection  to  the 
Araxes,)  may  be  understood  of  all 
the  south  Asiatic  country  of  Ham's 
descendants,  west  of  the  Persian 
Gulf — as  well  as  in  Arabia.  Of  the 
Hamites,  Nimrod  was  the  first  king 
of  Shinar,  (Babylon  and  Mesopo- 
tamia.) Michael  Chamish,  in  his 
"  History  of  Armenia,"  informs  us 
that  "  the  Arast,  or  Araxes,  was  for- 
merly called  Gihon,"  (vol.  i.,  p.  12.) 
T  The  whole  land  of  Ethiopia,  (lit., 
Gush.)  The  first  descendants  of 
Cush  spread  over  the  borders  of  the 
Persian  Gulf,  in  that  region  which 
still  bears  the  name  of  Ghuzestan, 
whence  they  spread  over  India  and 
the  western  part  of  Arabia.  Our 
translators,  following  the  Sept.,  have 
commonly  rendered  the  Heb.  term 
Gush  by  Ethiopia,  and  hence  confu- 
sion arises — as  this  is  understood  of 
the  African  region  of  that  name. 
As  the  Cushites  spread  toward  the 
borders  of  Egypt,  that  whole  region 
from  the  Ganges  became  the  land  of 
Cush — which  the  Hindoo  geography 
calls  the  Gusha  Dweepa  interior.  By 
a  further  dispersion  they  afterwards 
passed  over  into  Africa,  which, 
in  its  turn,  became  the  land  of 
Cush,  or  Ethiopia.  (See  Watson's 
Tracts.) 

14.  Hiddekel.     (Onk.,  Syr.,  Aru 


104 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4103. 


winch  goeth  toward  the  east  of  Assyria.     And  the  fourth  river 
is  Euphrates. 

15  And  the  Lord  God  took  the  man,  and  y  put  him  into  the 
garden  of  Eden,  to  dress  it,  and  to  keep  it. 


and  Pers.  read  " Biglath")  (Sept., 
Vidg.  and  Copt,  read  "  Tigris")  Cun- 
eiform reads  Tigra.  Viscount  Pol- 
lington  found  the  Hebrew  name 
still  in  use,  (Royal  Geog.  Jour.  vol. 
x.,  part  iii.,  p.  449.)  The  flow  of 
the  river  is  exceedingly  rapid.  "  The 
mean  velocity  of  the  Nile  at  Cairo  is 
1  foot  11  inches — of  the  Danube,  at 
Pesth,  2.33  ft. — of  the  Euphrates,  at 
Hit,  4.46  ft.,  while  that  of  the  Tigris  at 
Bagdad  is  7.33  ft."  So  the  name  is 
a  compound  term,  meaning  velocity 
and  lightness.  Pliny  says  the  river 
was  so  called  from  its  celerity.  The 
Hebrew  name  is  traced  through 
various  changes  from  Hiddekel  to 
Tigris.  "f  That  (is)  it  which  gocth 
toward  the  east  of  Assyria.  Heng- 
stcnberg  suggests  that  the  territory 
to  the  westward  of  the  Tigris  was 
then  so  considerable  that  what  lay 
to  the  eastward  was  not  taken  into 
account.  (So  Qesenius.)  *fi  Euphra- 
tes. Heb.,  Phrath — a  name  which 
it  still  bears  in  the  East.  The  Cunei- 
form inscriptions  have  it  "  Ufratu- 
ica,"  (see  Rawlinson,  p.  5.)  Our 
"  Euphrates"  is  derived  from  the  old 
Persian  through  the  Greek.  It  was 
so  commonly  known  as  not  to  need 
further  description.  It  is  called  in 
some  passages  " the  river"  and  " the 
great  river,"  Deut.  1  :  7 ;  Ps.  72  :  8. 
The  old  Paradise  must  have  been  in 
the  region  of  these  two  rivers,  which 
are  plainly  identified.  How  large 
was  the  district  it  is  impossible  now 
to  decide. 

15.  This  description  of  the  garden 
being  now  finished  the  sacred  writer 
continues  the  narrative  of  man, 
Avhose  formation  was  particularly 
described  in  vs.  7.  He  proceeds  now 
to  relate  his  location  in  this  garden, 
and  his  trial  by  means  of  the  two 
tree3,  (or  classes  of  trees.)     ®[  The 


Lord  God  took  the  man  and  put  him 
into  the  garden.  (Lit.,  took  the  man 
and  set  him  down  in  the  garden — 
caused  him  to  rest.)  This  was  the 
Divine  arrangement.  God  assigned 
to  the  man  the  charge  of  the  gar- 
den ;  and  thus  appointed  to  him  a 
life  of  activity,  and  of  pleasant  en- 
gagedness.  It  was  a  most  agreeable 
occupation,  because  it  was  the  garden 
of  Eden,  and  before  any  curse  had 
been  visited  upon  the  ground.  It 
was  no  toil  by  the  sweat  of  the 
brow.  His  work  in  the  garden  was 
to  dress  it.  Sept.  and  Vulg.,  to  work 
■it — to  bestow  labor  upon  it — to  till 
it—(ys.  5  ;  ch.  3  :  23  ;  4  :  2,)  and  to 
keep  it.  It  was  the  garden  of  the 
Lord  that  was  put  in  charge  of  man 
to  cultivate  and  to  take  care  of.  This 
was  to  be  his  activity,  and  responsi- 
bility, and  recreation.  Occupation 
was  a  necessity  of  his  nature — both 
physical,  and  mental,  and  spiritual. 
He  was  not  left  in  Paradise  to  indo- 
lence, but  he  was  blessed  with  em- 
ployment, by  which  his  frame  might 
be  pleasantly  exercised,  and  his  mind 
engaged,  and  his  soul  expanded. 
Labor,  in  itself,  is  not  a  curse,  but 
a  blessing.  Thus  man  was  held  ac- 
countable to  God — as  to  his  Father, 
and  in  the  garden,  as  in  a  temple, 
he  was  to  worship  God — offering  the 
sacrifices  of  praise,  and  doing  the 
daily  work  allotted  to  him,  (ch. 
13  :  10.)  He  was  to  keep  the  garden 
with  a  jealous  care,  by  industry  and 
fidelity,  from  intrusion  and  depreda- 
tion, as  of  the  serpent,  and  from  his 
own  transgression,  whereby  he 
might  lose  it. 

10.  Here,  though  in  Paradise,  man 
was  to  acknowledge  his  subjection 
to  the  Divine  knowledge  and  will. 
There  must  be  government,  even  in 
heaven.       The    first    lesson    to    ba 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  II. 


105 


16  And  the  Lord  God  commanded  the  man,  saying,  Of  every 
tree  of  the  garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat : 

17  z  But  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  a  thou 
shalt  not  eat  of  it :  for  in  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  b  thou 
shalt  surelv  die. 


z  vs.  9.      a  ch. 
1  John  5  :  16. 


1,  3,  11,  17.      b  ch.  3  :  3,  19  ;    Rom.  6  :  23  ;    1  Cor.  15  :  56  ;    Jam.  1  :  15  ; 


learned  is  that  of  submission  and 
obedience  to  God's  command.  Man 
is  thus  endowed  with  all  delights, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  serving  him- 
self alone,  but  to  serve  the  Father 
of  all  good.  T[  Commanded — saying. 
The  command  is  full  of  privilege. 
"  Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  eating 
thou  shalt  eat,"  i.  e.,  thou  shalt  surely 
eat,  thou  art  freely  'privileged  to  eat. 
This  is  in  the  spirit  of  the  gospel 
command,  "  Take  the  water  of  life 
freely,"  (Rev.  22  :  17.)  So  all  God's 
commands  are  gracious.  Be  filled. 
Be  saved. 

17.  But.  Along  with  the  gracious 
command  there  was  a  prohibition. 
This  was  to  be  the  test.  While  the 
sovereignty  is  gracious,  the  grace  is 
also  sovereign.  It  is  "  the  throne  of 
grace."  Herein  man  was  called 
upon  to  submit  his  opinion  and  will 
to  that  of  God,  his  Father.  This 
test  was  appointed  in  the  direction 
of  man's  highest  interest.  It  was  only 
by  denying  to  himself  the  prerog- 
ative of  God — only  by  submitting  to 
God's  mind  and  will  as  disclosed  for 
his  guidance  that  he  could  have  free 
access  to  the  tree  of  life.  ^[  Of  the 
tree  of  the  knowledge,  etc.  This  is 
not  a  trivial  and  unmeaning  test — 
nor  purely  arbitrary.  We  see  the 
vital  principle  involved  here.  Man 
was  created  in  the  Divine  image  as  to 
knowledge.  God  would  sufficiently 
reveal  Himself  to  them,  in  the  gar- 
den, and  life  was  freely  granted 
them,  without  any  partaking  of  the 
forbidden  tree.  But  when  man  aims 
to  invade  the  Divine  prerogative, 
and  to  be  as  God,  knowing  good  and 
evil,  then  he  loses  life  itself,  and  be- 
comes dead  by  such  separation  from 
liis  Maker.     To  deny  the  need  of  a 


revelation  from  God — to  deny  that 
God's  revelation  is  sufficient — to 
deny  the  proper  limit  of  religious 
knowledge — all  these  daring  posi- 
tions of  the  creature  are  a  rebellion 
against  God,  and  lead  to  the  death 
of  the  soul.  The  gospel  only  more 
fully  expresses  this  sentiment,  when 
it  says,  "In  Him  was  life,  and  the 
life  was  the  light  of  men,"  John 
1  :  14.  Besides,  here  was  only  the 
interdict  of  such  knowledge  as  was 
connected  with  evil,  and  such  as  led 
to  death.  The  restriction,  therefore, 
was  only  in  love,  and  for  man's 
highest  good.  This  tree  was  chosen, 
not  merely  as  a  symbol,  but,  perhaps, 
also  as  the  favorite  tree  of  the  ser- 
pent. So  that  thus  it  was  in  God's 
plan  to  forbid  all  such  commerce 
with  that  animal  who  was  chosen  as 
the  agent  of  the  tempter.  It  was 
thus  we  may  suppose,  that  the  wo- 
man "  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for 
food," — as  she  saw  the  serpent  feast- 
ing upon  it,  and  thus  tempting  her 
by  example,  as  well  as  by  words. 
In  the  Apocalypse  John  sees  the  tree 
of  life  as  bearing  twelve  manner  of 
fruits — rather,  twelve  crops  of  fruit 
— yielding  its  fruit  every  month, 
(Rev.  22  :  2.)  Note.— Though  this 
prohibition  is  addressed  to  the  man 
alone,  it,  of  course,  included  the 
woman  also,  who  was  part  of  him- 
self. ^[  For  in  the  day.  Lit.,  in 
day — when,  (vs.  4.)  The  fatal  conse- 
quence of  disobedience  is  here  stated. 
This  tree  was  a  tree  of  death,  as  the 
other  was  a  tree  of  life.  Life  could 
be  enjoyed  and  kept  only  by  absti- 
nence from  this  tree.  Man  could 
have  that  knowledge  which  is  life 
only  by  abstaining  from  this  tree  of 
knowledge.     How  significant !    The 


10G 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C,  1102. 


18  1"  And  the  Lord  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that  the  man 
should  be  alone ;  c  I  will  make  him  an  help  meet  for  him. 


c  ch.  3  :  12  ;  1  Cor.  11 


1  Tim.  2  :  13. 


gospel  is  foolishness  to  worldly  wis- 
dom. We  are  called,  in  a  sense,  to 
become  fools  that  we  may  be  wise,  1 
Cor.  3  :  18.  1  Thou  shall  mrely  die. 
Heb.,  Dying  thou  shalt  die,  or,  thou 
shalt  utterly  die.  Sept.,  Ye  shall  die 
the  death — not  that  on  the  very  day 
of  eating,  all  the  death  should  be 
fully  experienced.  But  the  curse 
should  be  visited  at  once  in  all  its 
essentials.  This  penalty  was  not 
arbitrary,  but  necessary.  It  could 
not  be  less,  because  it  was  separation 
from  God.  The  death  was  (1st.) 
spiritual  death,  as  the  separation  of 
man  from  God.  This  separation  in- 
troduced (2d.)  bodily  death,  with  all 
physical  evils — for  apart  from  God 
the  connexion  of  soul  and  body  could 
not  be  maintained.  And  this  sepa- 
ration from  God,  must  be  (3rd.) 
eternal,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
and  apart  from  any  provision  for 
reconciliation.  "  The  wages  of  sin 
is  death — but  the  gift  of  God  is  eter- 
nal life  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord,"  Rom.  5  :  12,  17 ;  6  :  23 ;  Eph. 
2:3.  On  the  very  day  of  man's  eat- 
ing he  became  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins,  (Eph.  2  :  1,)  he  became  heir 
to  bodily  death  with  all  diseases  and 
woes  of  the  flesh  ;  and  he  was  under 
condemnation  for  all  the  term  of  his 
immortal  existence.  "  The  definition 
of  the  death  here  must  be  sought 
from  its  opposite,  viz.,  the  kind  of 
life  from  which  man  fell." — Calvin. 
(As  to  death  before  the  fall  see  In- 
troduction, p.  52.) 

Observe. — The  curse  here  de- 
nounced against  the  transgressor  is 
plainly  death,  most  certain  and  se- 
vere. It  is  argued  by  some  that  the 
death  means  only  natural  death,  and 
that  this  is  annihilation.  But  (1.) 
this  would  have  required  that  the 
first  pair  be  annihilated,  and  in  them 
the  race.  And  if  it  could  be  though  t 
by  any  to  mean  ultimate  annihila- 
tion, this  would  not  at  all  answer  to 


such  terms  as  "  everlasting  punish- 
ment,"— for  where  one  is  annihilated 
there  is  nothing  left  of  him  to  be 
punished.  He  is  blotted  out  of  being. 
(2.)  The  contrast  of  the  life  which 
belongs  to  the  good — not  natural  life, 
(which,  as  in  the  case  of  Cain  may 
be  a  curse,  but)  moral,  spiritual,  and 
eternal  life — shows  the  meaning  of 
the  death  here  denounced. 

§  12.  Supplementary  Narrative 
— The  Formation  of  Woman — 
Institution  of  Marriage.  Ch. 
2  :  18-25. 

18.  While  thus  we  have  seen  the 
man  located  in  the  garden  of  Eden 
for  the  development  of  his  physical 
and  mental  energies,  and  for  the 
trial  also  of  his  obedience,  we  have 
now  the  narrative  of  his  further  ad- 
vancement by  being  placed  in  social 
relations,  and  by  having  his  domin- 
ion over  the  animal  tribes  put  in  ac- 
tive exercise.  He  is,  on  his  natal 
day,  furnished  with  a  companion — 
as  head  of  the  race — and  he  is  to 
feel  his  dignity  as  exalted  over  the 
inferior  creation,  while  he  is  to  use 
his  speech  in  giving  to  the  ani- 
mals their  names.  ^[  It  is  not  good. 
Lit.,  Not  good  the  being  of  the  man 
in  his  separation,  or  solitariness. 
This  was  only  a  step  in  the  devel- 
opment of  God's  plan  for  mankind. 
It  was  not  good  in  view  of  the  Di- 
vine purpose — nor  in  view  of  man's 
social  constitution — nor  in  view  of 
his  highest  happiness  and  usefulness 
in  life.  Eden,  with  all  its  delights, 
was  incomplete  to  him  without  this 
companion  of  his  enjoyments,  who 
should  enhance  his  delights,  partner 
of  his  pleasures,  in  whose  lively 
sympathy  they  should  seem  to  be 
doubled.  ^[  I  will  make.  In  tho 
creation  of  the  man,  (ch.  1  :  26,)  the 
language  was,  "  let  us  make,"  here  it 
is,  "I  icill  make."    If   the  former 


B.  C.  4102.]  CHAPTER  II.  107 

19  e  And  out  of  the  ground  the  Lord  God  formed  every  beast 
of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  f  brought  them  unto 
Adam  to  see  what  he  would  call  them ;  and  whatsoever  Adam 
called  every  living  creature,  that  was  the  name  thereof. 

e  ch.  1 :  20,  24.     f  Ps.  8  :  6.     See  ch.  6  :  20. 


referred  to  a  plurality  of  persons  in 
the  God-head,  this  would  express 
the  essential  unity  of  God.  ^[  An 
help  meet  for  him.  Lit.,  an  help  as 
before  him — or,  as  over  against 
him — an  helper  corresponding  to 
him — his  counterpart.  Vulg.,  an 
assistant,  like  to  him.  Our  version 
expresses  it  well — an  help,  meet,  (fit, 
suitable,)  for  Mm.  It  was  to  be  a 
fit  companion,  endowed  with  a  na- 
ture like  his  own,  "a  second  self" 
In  Hebrew  usage  all  things  which 
are  "  before  us"  in  the  sight  of  which 
we  delight,  are  objects  of  our  care, 
and  affection,  Isa.  49  :  16. 

19.  Here,  before  narrating  God's 
actual  provision  for  man's  social 
want,  the  historian  tells  us  of  a  pre- 
liminary fact.  His  wisdom  and 
knowledge  were  to  be  further  devel- 
oped, as,  also,  his  relation  to  the 
animal  tribes.  ^[  Out  of  the  ground. 
In  ch.  1  :  24  the  history  of  their 
creation  is,  "  Let  the  earth  bring 
forth,"  etc.  Here  the  term  used  is 
" adamah"  " ground."  The  inferior 
tribes,  both  beast  and  fowl,  having 
been  thus  formed,  the  Lord  God 
brought  them,  (lit.,)  caused  them  to 
come — unto  Adam.  How  this  was 
done  we  need  not  inquire.  He  who 
made  them,  could  make  them  to 
come  to  him  who  was  set  over  them 
as  their  lord.  The  objection  that 
animals,  of  all  kinds,  could  not  have 
been  gathered  into  one  district  from 
all  climes,  is  groundless.  1st.  Be- 
cause we  are  by  no  means  certain 
that  the  same  varieties  of  climate 
existed  before  the  flood  as  since. 
2nd.  That  it  is  not  necessary  to  sup- 
pose that  all  the  animals  created  at 
the  time,  were  brought  there — only 
the  representatives  of  all  classes,  as 
in  the  ark.  3d.  Tbis  was  doubtless 
done  at  once  after  their  creation,  and 


while  as  yet  they  were  only  in  pairs, 
and  had  not  multiplied  and  scattered 
any  more  than  the  human  family. 
God  caused  them  to  come  to  Adam 
— to  pass  in  review  before  him.  It  is 
here  declared  that  God's  object  in 
this  was — to  see  what  he  (Adam.) 
would  call  them,  (lit.,  it,)  each  of  them, 
that  is,  to  give  him  opportunity  to 
name  them — not,  of  course,  to  wait 
on  him  for  information.  (1.)  The 
man  was  thus  to  be  made  conscious 
of  his  lordship  over  the  animal 
tribes.  (2.)  In  token  of  his  relations 
to  them,  respectively,  he  was  to  give 
them  their  respective  names.  (3.) 
His  knowledge  of  animal  nature,  (in 
which  he  had  been  created,)  is  at 
once  to  be  developed,  under  the 
special  teaching  of  God.  (4.)  His 
organs  of  speech  are  to  be  put  in  ex- 
ercise. (5.)  His  knowledge  of  lan- 
guage (Divinely  imparted,)  is  to  be 
developed  in  the  use  of  terms  for 
naming  the  several  classes — under 
the  Divine  instruction  and  guidance. 
(0.)  It  would  seem,  from  the  connex- 
ion, that  the  man  was  to  be  made 
sensible  of  his  social  need  as  he 
should  see  the  animals  passing  before 
him  in  pairs,  ^f  And  whatsoever. 
The  man  was  created  in  knowledge, 
after  the  Divine  image,  and  thus  was 
endowed  with  powers  of  perception 
and  discrimination,  by  which  he 
could  know  the  habits,  characters, 
and  uses  of  the  several  species,  both 
of  animals  and  of  fowls,  yet  not 
without  Divine  teaching  in  the  mat- 
ter, and  in  the  use  of  terms.  The 
names  which  he  gave  them  were  ap- 
pointed to  be  their  names  by  which 
they  should  be  known — and  they 
were,  doubtless,  significant — as  was 
the  name  of  Em,  (vs.  23,)  ch.  3  :  2Q 
Language  itself  could  not  so  early 
have  been  a  human  invention,  but  a 


108 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


20  And  Adam  gave  names  to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  fowl  of  the 
air,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field  :  but  for  Adam  there  was  not 
found  an  help  meet  for  him. 

21  And  the  Lord  God  caused  a  S  deep  sleep  to  fail  upon  Adam, 
and  he  slept ;  and  he  took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh 
instead  thereof: 


g  ch.  15  :  12  ;  1  Sam.  26  :  12. 


Divine  gift.  Bishop  Magee  infers 
from  this  passage,  the  Divine  origin 
of  language.  "  For,"  he  says,  "  in 
what  sense  can  we  understand  the 
naming  of  every  beast  of  the  field, 
etc.,  brought  before  Adam  for  this 
purpose  by  God,  but  in  that  of  His 
instructing  Adam  in  the  manner 
whereby  they  were,  in  future,  to  be 
distinguished  ?  To  suppose  it  other- 
wise, and  to  imagine  that  Adam,  at 
the  first,  was  able  to  impose  names 
on  the  several  tribes  of  animals,  is 
either  to  suppose  that  he  must,  from 
the  first,  have  been  able  to  distin- 
guish them  by  their  characteristic 
marks  and  leading  properties,  and  to 
have  distinct  notions  of  them  an- 
nexed to  their  several  appellations 
— or  that  he  applied  sounds  at 
random,  as  names  of  the  animals, 
without  the  intervention  of  such 
notions." — Magee  on  the  Atonement, 
p.  290. 

20.  And  Adam  gave  names,  etc.  It 
is  here  added,  "to  all  cattle."  ®[ But 
for  Adam,  etc.  The  intimation  is 
that  he  who  here,  by  the  help  of  God, 
had  such  a  knowledge  of  all  the  ani- 
mal tribes  as  to  assign  to  them  their 
proper  names,  became  sensible  of  his 
need — that  for  him  alone,  the  lord 
of  this  lower  creation,  there  was  not 
found  an  help  meet  for  him — as  there 
was  found  for  all  the  other  species. 
He  felt  his  relation  as  lord  over  these 
animal  tribes — male  and  female — but 
he  felt  his  want  of  one  to  whom  he 
should  stand  in  the  relation  of  com- 
panion, partner,  bosom  friend,  of  one 
who  should  be  an  help— fit,  meet, 
suitable  for  him — endowed  with  a 
nature  so  akin  to  his  own,  a  counter- 
pslrt.  Lit.,  as  before  him.  Sept.,  a 
lidp  like  to  him.     So  Vulg. — Germ., 


die  uin  ihn  ware.  Thus  Adam  was 
first  led  to  see  his  need,  in  order  that 
he  might  with  greater  gratitude  re- 
ceive her  who  was  to  be  provided 
for  him.  God  had  already  plan- 
ned to  furnish  man  with  such 
a  match,  or  counterpart,  (see  verse 
18,)  and  so  He  introduces  the  com- 
panion. 

21.  This  formation  of  the  woman 
would  seem  to  have  belonged  to  the 
sixth  day's  work — and  what  was 
stated  only  in  the  general  in  ch.  1, 
is  here  stated  more  in  detail,  "  male 
and  female  created  He  them"  ch. 
1  :  27.  The  manner  of  the  woman's 
creation  is  now  set  forth.  God  was 
pleased  to  form  her  out  of  man,  even 
as  it  pleased  Him  to  form  man  out 
the  dust  of  the  ground.  This  was 
not  because  He  needed  any  materials ; 
but  simply  because  He  chose  to  ex- 
press, by  this  means,  an  important 
truth,  that  the  twain  are  one  flesh, 
(vs.  24,)  and  that  as  the  woman  was 
in,  and  of,  the  man,  so  the  race 
was  in  and  of  the  first  pair.  The 
natural  headship  of  the  race  in 
Adam  is  the  basis  of  the  federal 
headship.  The  first  man  is  not  only 
an  individual,  but  holds  in  himself, 
"  in  his  loins,"  the  entire  race,  and 
so  he  is  appointed  to  act  for  them  in 
the  covenant  of  works.  ^f  Beep 
sleep.  The  Sept.  reads,  an  ecstasy. 
Aquila  and  Synim.,  a  lethargy.  Kim- 
chi,  strong  sleep.  The  same  term 
is  used  of  the  "  deep  sleep  "  which 
fell  upon  Abram,  (Gen.  15  :  12,)  when 
God  was  about  to  make  a  covenant 
with  him  as  father  of  the  faithful, 
and  give  him  the  promise  of  an  in« 
numerable  covenant  seed.  So  here 
in  giving  to  our  first  father  a  part- 
ner, who  was  to  be  the  mother  of 


B.  C.  4102.]  CHAPTER  II.  l0£ 

22  And  the  rib,  which  the  Loud  God  had  taken   from  man, 
made  he  a  woman,  and  h  brought  her  unto  the  man. 


h  Prov.  13 


Heb.  13  :  4. 


the  race,  God  pleases  to  put  him  into 
a  state  of  "  deep  sleep,"  and  it  may  be 
that  there  was  also  a  prophetic  vis- 
ion passed  before  him,  of  the  whole 
transaction,  and  of  the  partner  whom 
he  was  to  receive.  lie  plainly  under- 
stood her  origin,  (vs.  23.)  Milton 
thus  expresses  it : 

"  Mine  eyes  lie  closed,  but  open  left  the  cell 
Of  fancy,  my  internal  sight,"  etc. 

T[  One  of  his  ribs.  God  could,  as 
easily  have  created  the  woman  out 
of  nothing.  His  work  was,  however, 
to  be  full  of  meaning.  As  Adam, 
himself,  was  a  type  of  the  Second 
Adam,  so  the  woman  here  given  to 
him  in  sacred  matrimony  was  a  type 
of  the  church,  taken  from  the  side 
of  Christ,  that  was  pierced  for  the 
formation  of  the  church,  and  one 
with  Him  as  a  bride  ot  the  Lamb, 
(Rev.  21  :  2  ;  Eph.  5  :  28-32.)  Only 
they  who  do  not  see  the  fulness  of 
meaning  in  God's  word  and  work, 
will  scoff  at  it,  as  if  it  had  no  mean- 
ing, or  pervert  it  into  allegory,  when 
it  is  not  that  they  know  more  than 
Christians,  as  they  vainly  claim,  but 
that  they  know  less.  Herein  they 
claim  to  be  as  Gods — knowing  good 
and  evil;  and  under  the  power  of 
the  tempter,  they  pluck  the  fruit 
from  the  forbidden  tree.  But  what 
they  reap  is  death  as  the  fruit  of 
their  sin.  ^[  Closed  up  the  flesh.  Of 
course  there  is  no  greater  difficulty 
in  this  account  than  in  any  of  the 
preceding  narratives.  It  is  all  mirac- 
ulous, and  all  as  it  pleased  God.  It 
is  vain  to  speculate  upon  the  physical 
organization  of  our  first  father, 
which  allowed  of  this  loss  of  part  of 
his  frame.  God  closed  up  the  va- 
cancy, supplying  its  place  with  flesh. 
Because  God's  works  here  have  such 
a  fulness  of  meaning,  skeptics  resolve 
these  narratives  into  mere  myths. 
Because  they  are  full   of  collateral 


teachings,  they  take  them  as  only 
the  outward  dress  by  which  such 
teachings  are  given.  But  there  is 
every  evidence  of  historical  truth 
here — and  in  addition  to  this  we 
have  a  fulness  of  spiritual  truth. 
(1.)  Myths  are  commonly  diffuse 
tales.  These  are  compact  records. 
(2.)  If  this  be  not  the  history  of 
man's  origin,  we  have  none.  And 
no  such  natural  and  reasonable  one 
can  be  substituted.  (3.)  If  this  be 
myth,  then  all  history  can  be  shown 
to  be  myth,  on  the  same  principle 
of  interpretation. (See  Introduc- 
tion.) 

"  She  was  not  made  out  of  his 
head,  to  surpass  him,  nor  from  his 
feet  to  be  trampled  on,  but  from  his 
side,  to  be  equal  to  him,  and  near 
his  heart,  to  be  dear  to  him." 

%  Made  He  a  woman.  Lit.,  And 
Jehovah  God  built  the  rib  which  He 
had  taken  from  the  man  to  (or  for)  a 
woman.  It  is  thus  represented  as  if 
God  built  upon  the  rib,  or  out  of  it, 
the  female  form,  and  the  language 
is  taken  by  some  to  refer  to  the  supe- 
rior symmetry  and  beauty  of  woman. 
But  it  simply  shows  us  that  it  was 
not  by  any  inherent  power  in  the 
man  to  form  a  woman  out  of  himself, 
but  by  God's  creative  power,  "  Male 
and  female  created  He  them."  This 
done  Jehovah  God  brought  her — 
caused  her  to  come — unto  the  man. 
As  in  vs.  19,  it  is  said  of  the  animals 
that  God  caused  them  to  present 
themselves  before  Adam,  (in  token 
of  their  subjection,  and  of  his  do- 
minion as  assigned  by  God,)  so  here, 
the  term  indicates  a  solemn  act  of 
God  in  which  the  woman  is  present- 
ed to  the  man  in  marriage  covenant, 
see  vs.  24.  This  is  called  "  the  cove- 
nant of  God,"  Prov.  2:17.  In  every 
true  marriage  God  brings  the  wife 
"  A  prudent  wife  is  from  the  Lord," 
Prov.  19 :  14. 


110 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  410&. 


23  And  Adam  said,  This  is  now  >  bone  of  ray  bones,  and  flesh 
of  ray  flesh  :  she  shall  be  called  Woman,  because  she  was  k  taken 
out  of  man. 

24  l  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and 
shall  cleave  unto  his  wife:  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh. 


i  ch.  29  :  14 ,  Judg.  9  :  2 ;  2  Sam.  5:1;  19:13-  Ephes.  5  :  30.    k  1  Cor.  11 :  8. 
Vs.  45  :  10;  Matt.  19:5;  Mark  10  :  7  ;  1  Cor.  6  :  16  ;  Eph.  5  :  31. 


1  ch. 31  :  15  ; 


23.  Adam  shows  himself  endowed 
with  superior  knowledge  and  wis- 
dom to  understand  the  history  and 
discern  the  meaning  of  the  transac- 
tion, and  to  recognise  and  receive 
his  partner.  He  says,  This  is  now — 
(lit.,  this  time,) — bone  of  my  bones, 
and  flesh  of  my  flesh.  That  is — this 
once — in  this  instance,  (referring  to 
the  other  pairs,)  this  female  is  a  part- 
ner for  me.  The  origin  of  the  wo- 
man is  here  referred  to — built  out  of 
himself — so  as  to  be  one  with  him — 
"one  flesh,"  vs.  24.  Paul,  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  dwells  upon 
this  history  as  a  reason  for  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  marriage  relation.  "  Men 
ought  to  love  their  wives  as  their 
own  bodies — for  he  that  loveth  his 
wife  loveth  himself,  even  as  the 
Lord  the  church — for  we  are  mem- 
bers of  His  body,  of  His  flesh,  and 
of  His  bones,"  Eph.  5  :  28-31.  (1.)  This 
New  Testament  use  of  the  facts 
shows  the  designed  purport  of  the 
transaction.  And  there  could  be 
nothing  more  highly  reasonable  than 
that  God,  with  such  a  design,  should 
have  chosen  such  a  mode  of  opera- 
tion. (2.)  This  New  Testament  ref- 
erence shows  the  Divine  origin  of 
the  record.  Adam  further  displays 
his  knowledge  in  giving  a  name  to 
this  partner  thus  made  for  him,  and 
brought  to  him  by  God.  ^[  She  {to 
this,)  shall  be  called  woman — ftfcK. 
This  term  is  the  feminine  form  of 
the  word  for  man.  Man-ess  would 
express  it,  like  shepherd-ess.  The 
English  word  is  from  the  Anglo  Sax- 
on, wombman;  that  is,  the  female 
of  mankind.  The  phrase,  "  shall  be 
nailed,"  often  means  simply  "  shall 
be,"  and  here  it  doubtless  refers  to 
the  nature,  as  well  as  to  the  name — 


and  in  Hebrew  the  names,  especially 
in  the  earliest  time,  were  significant. 
The  human  pair  is  unlike  all  others 
in  this  that  they  are  one. 

24.  Therefore.  This  is  understood 
by  some  as  the  language  of  Adam  in 
which  he  shews  his  knowledge  with 
which  he  was  so  wonderfully  en- 
dowed. By  others  it  is  taken  as  the 
language  of  Moses.  Our  Lord,  how- 
ever, refers  to  it  as  the  language  of 
the  Creator  Himself.  The  Lord 
spake  by  Moses.  In  Matt.  19  : 4,  this 
creation  of  mankind,  male  and  fe- 
male, is  referred  to,  along  with  this 
passage,  as  the  Divine  ordinance  of 
marriage.  It  points  to  the  future  in 
terms  indicating  an  institution  here 
set  up  for  all  mankind.  This  is  that 
ordinance  of  God,  therefore,  for  man's 
well  being,  which  He  established  in 
Paradise — all  violation  of  which  is 
prohibited  in  the  Decalogue,  and  the 
sanctity  of  which  lies  at  the  founda- 
tion of  social  morality  and  virtue. 
TT  Shall  a  man  leave,  etc.  This  de- 
fines the  relation  as  even  taking  pre- 
cedence of  the  filial  relation.  Beyond 
the  binding  force  of  a  child's  tie  to 
the  parent  is  this  tenderest  claim — 
"  not,"  as  Calvin  remarks,  "  that  mar- 
riage severs  sons  from  their  fathers, 
or  dispenses  with  other  ties  of  na- 
ture :  for  in  this  way  God  would  bo 
acting  contrary  to  Himself.  Yet  it 
is  to  show  that  it  is  even  less  lawful 
to  desert  a  wife  than  to  desert  parents. 
Therefore,  they  who,  for  slight 
causes,  rashly  allow  of  divorces, 
violate  in  one  single  particular  all 
the  laws  of  nature,  and  reduce  them 
to  nothing."  ^[  One  flesh.  "  Moses 
had  not  said  that  God  had  assigned 
many  wives,  but  only  one  to  one 
man.    It  remains,  therefore,  that  the 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


in 


25  m  And  they  were  both  naked,  the  man  and  his  wife,  and 
were  not  n  ashamed. 


CHAPTER    III 


N 


OW  a  the  serpent  was  b  more  subtile 
field  which  the  Lord  God  had  made: 


than  any  beast  of  the 
and  he  said  unto  the 


m  ch.  3 :  7,  10,  11.  a  Exod.  32  :  25  ;  Isa.  47 
Cor.  11  :  3. 


a  Rev.  12  :  9  ;  20  :  2.  b  Matt.  10  :  16  ; 


conjugal  bond  subsists  between  two 
persons  only — one  nian  and  one  wife. 
Whence  it  easily  appears  that  noth- 
ing is  less  accordant  with  the  Divine 
institution  than  polygamy.  Now 
when  Christ  in  censuring  the  volun- 
tary divorces  of  the  Jews,  adduces 
as  His  reason  for  so  doing,  that  '  in 
the  beginning  it  was  not  so/  He 
certainly  commands  this  institution 
to  be  observed  as  a  perpetual  rule 
of  conduct,  (Matt.  19  :  5 ;  see  Mai. 
2  :  15,)  and  condemns  divorce  for  any 
other  than  the  one  capital  offence," 
(Matt.  19  :  9.)  Any  other  principle 
helps  to  break  down  the  sanctity  of 
this  original  institution,  and  thus  to 
strike  a  deadly  blow  at  all  good  or- 
der and  morality  in  society.  Ob- 
serve.— It  is  not  said  that  the  wish 
of  parents  may  be  disregarded  in 
marriage.  Parents  are  to  be  hon- 
ored and  obeyed  in  the  Lord,  (Eph. 
6:1.)  The  good  son  and  daughter 
make  the  good  husband  and  wife. 

25.  Nakedness  was  no  shame  in 
that  unfallen  estate,  because  sin, 
which  is  the  source  of  shame,  had 
not  entered.  Our  very  clothing, 
therefore,  in  which  most  so  pride 
themselves,  is  the  token  of  our  sin. 
and  a  memorial  of  our  shame.  As 
soon  as  sin  entered,  then  the  fallen 
pair  were  both  ashamed  of  their 
nakedness,  ch.  3  :  7.  Natural  shame 
among  the  civilized  is  a  constant  tes- 
timony to  the  truth  of  this  narra- 
tive. 

Observe. — Man  was  created  after 
the  image  of  God  (1.)  in  knowledge, 
having  a  wonderful  understanding 
of  his  relations  to  God,  and  also  to 
the  animals  and  to  the  woman,  as 


they  were  brought  to  him — (2.)  in 
righteousness — as  respects  the  obser- 
vance of  all  his  relations,  both  to 
creatures  and  to  the  Creator — and 
(3.)  in  true  holiness — his  soul  finding 
its  highest  enjoyment  in  the  love 
and  service  of  God.  (4.)  With  do- 
minion over  the  creatures — as  earth- 
ly lord  and  head.  In  the  grant  of 
territorial  sovereignty  there  was 
foreshadowed  the  antitypical  mys- 
tery of  man's  future  exaltation  in 
Christ,  as  the  Psalmist  saw,  Ps.  8. 

Observe. — "  The  present  ordi- 
nance of  God  on  earth  enjoins  labor 
with  its  attendant  right  of  property 
— dominion,  with  its  distinction  and 
gradation  of  orders — and  matrimony, 
with  its  train  of  blessed  charities. 
These  are  the  very  bulwarks  of  the 
social  fabric.  Wo  to  those  who 
remove  landmarks,  or  encourage 
insubordination,  or  despise  mar- 
riage." 


CHAPTER  III. 

§  13.    The  Temptation  and  Fall 
of  Man.    Ch.  3  : 1-7. 

According  to  man's  constitution 
and  the  plan  of  God  in  Redemption, 
his  trial  and  discipline  were  neces- 
sary to  develop  his  character.  As 
we  have  seen,  (ch.  2,)  it  pleased  God 
that  man  should  be  put  upon  his 
trial  here,  and  the  human  race  in 
him.  As  our  first  parents  had  been 
created  in  the  Divine  image,  sin 
could  enter  the  race  only  from  with- 
out. Evil  already  existed  in  the 
world,  as  now  appears.     A  superior 


113 


GENESIS. 


[B.  0.  4102. 


woman,  Yea,  hath  God  said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of 


the  garden  ? 


order  of  intelligences  had  fallen  from 
their  first  estate,  (2  Peter  2:4;  Jude 
6.)  Sin  aims  to  extend  itself,  and 
here  we  find  it  operating  to  the  de- 
lusion and  fall  of  our  first  parents. 
It  was  in  the  plan  of  God,  that  with 
all  their  bias  to  good,  there  should 
be  a  possibility  of  fall.  The  will, 
though  disposed  to  all  that  was  good 
was  liable  to  the  control  of  evil,  in 
the  shape  of  a  powerful  temptation. 
The  tempter  assaults  the  race  at  its 
weak  and  exposed  point — through 
the  woman — by  an  appeal  to  his  self- 
sufficiency.  Yet  this  tempter  is 
God's  enemy,  as  well  as  man's,  and 
God  takes  part  against  him  for  man's 
redemption.  Marriage,  which  had 
been  the  medium  of  man's  fall,  was 
made  to  become  also  the  channel  of 
salvation.  Em,  the  fallen  mother  of 
our  woes,  is  to  bring  forth  children, 
though  in  sorrow,  and  through  an 
unbroken  succession  of  children, "  the 
seed  of  the  woman "  is  to  come  as 
the  bruiser  and  conqueror  of  the  ser- 
pent. 

1.  The  serpent.  The  animal  ser- 
pent is  here  primarily  referred  to,  as 
possessing  qualities  which  fitted  it  to 
be  the  agent  of  the  tempter.  Among 
all  animal  tribes  which  God  had  cre- 
ated, and  which  Adam,  with  his 
knowledge  of  them,  had  named,  this 
one  was  ^[  more  subtle  than  all  the 
other  beasts  of  the  field.  This  term 
subtle  is  elsewhere  rendered  "crafty," 
"prudent,"  Job  5  :  12  ;  Prov.  12  :  16. 
As  the  human  pair  was  to  be  tempt- 
ed in  regard  to  knowledge,  there  is 
deep  meaning  in  this  statement,  that 
the  serpent  was  the  most  subtle  of  all 
the  animals.  It  is  most  likely 
that  this  animal  was  then,  before  the 
curse,  the  most  knowing  and  pru- 
dent— as  it  is  now  everywhere  the 
symbol  of  low  artifice  and  degraded 
malignity.  That  there  was  a  real 
serpent  in  this  transaction  cannot  be 
doubted  any  more  than  we  can 
d^ubt  the  real  history  throughout. 


Here,  where  the  facts  speak,  further 
explanations  are  not  necessary,  nor 
fitted  to  the  time  of  the  beginning. 
(1.)  The  real  serpent  is  contrasted 
with  the  other  animals,  (vs.  1.) 
(2.)  In  the  New  Testament  allusion 
is  made  to  a  real  serpent  in  refer- 
ring to  the  history,  (2  Cor.  11  : 3, 
14 ;  1  John  3:8;  Rev.  20  :  2.) 
Yet  (3.)  that  there  was  in  the 
transaction  a  superior  agent,  Satan 
himself,  who  only  made  use  of  the 
serpent,  is  plain  from  his  being 
referred  to  as  "  the  Old  Serpent, 
called  the  Devil  and  Satan,"  (Rev. 
12  :  9,) — "a  murderer  from  the 
beginning,"  (John  8  :  44.)  Satan 
is  also  spoken  of  as  the  arch  sedu- 
cer, who  is  even  "  transformed  into 
an  angel  of  light,"  (2  Cor.  11  :  14.) 
The  reference  may  be  to  this  event. 
Almost  all  the  Asiatic  nations  hold 
the  serpent  to  be  a  wicked  being  that 
has  brought  evil  into  the  world. — 
Von  BoJilen,  a  Ind.,  i.,  248.  Some  have 
sought  to  turn  this  history  of  the 
temptation  into  an  allegory.  But  it 
wears  the  same  aspect  of  historical 
detail  as  the  rest  of  the  narrative. 
Others  have  understood  that  there  is 
here  only  the  animal  serpent.  But  we 
understand  the  literal  serpent  as  the 
agent  of  a  superior  being,  who  was 
the  real  tempter,  not  merely  that 
Satan  was  now  acting  in  the  form  of 
the  serpent.  It  is  plain  that  here 
was  a  person,  having  intellect  and 
moral  sense — having  speech  and 
reasoning  powers,  such  as  do  not 
belong  to  the  brute  creation.  God 
so  regarded  the  tempter,  as  is  plain 
from  the  language  of  the  curse.  He 
was  a  responsible  moral  agent.  "  Be- 
cause thou  hast  done  this  thou  art 
cursed,"  etc.  Keil  remarks  that  in- 
asmuch as  the  tempter  did  not  ap- 
proach our  first  parents  in  the  form 
of  a  heavenly,  God-like  Being,  but  in 
the  form  of  a  deeply  inferior  being, 
subordinate  to  man  himself,  so 
they  had  no    excuse   for  allowing 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


113 


themselves  to  be  seduced  by  a  beast 
to  a  transgression  of  the  Divine  com- 
mand. They  must  have  known  that 
an  evil  spirit  was  in  the  serpent.  The 
very  act  of  speech  must  have  shown 
this,  as  Adam  knew  from  his  survey 
and  naming  of  the  animals  that  none 
of  them  had  this  gift.  And,  besides, 
the  substance  of  the  address  must 
have  made  it  apparent  that  the  ani- 
mal was  not  possessed  by  a  good 
spirit,  but  by  an  evil  one.  So  that 
they  had  no  possible  excuse.  See 
Rett,  p.  50. 

The  agency  of  Satan  in  the  fall 
has  been  controverted  on  such 
grounds  as  the  following : 

1.  That  the  author  speaks  of  the 
serpent  as  "the  most  subtle  of  all 
the  beasts,"  as  though  referring  to 
its  own  ingenuity.  But  this  was  not 
merely  the  way  in  which  it  appeared 
to  our  first  parents :  but  was  proba- 
bly the  original  constitution  of  the 
serpent,  on  account  of  which  Satan 
chose  his  agency  above  that  of  all 
others. 

2.  That  the  serpent  has  no  organs 
of  speech.  But  Calvin  replies,  "  No 
one  has  any  except  as  God  gives 
them.  How  with  Balaam's  beast  ? 
Besides,  the  serpent  who  now  can 
only  hiss,  may,  at  first,  have  been  an 
eloquent  speaker." 

3.  It  is  asked,  how  could  God  have 
allowed  this  temptation  by  a  power- 
ful spirit  ?  This  involves  the  whole 
question  of  the  permission  of  sin  in 
the  world,  now,  or  at  the  beginning. 
We  are  not  to  pronounce  upon  God's 
doings,  but  to  arrive  at  the  truths 
revealed. 

4.  It  is  objected  that  the  curse  is 
directed  only  against  the  "  irrational 
creature."  Bat  Leland  remarks, 
"The  terms  are  accommodated  to 
the  condition  of  the  creature  pos- 
sessed." And  this  is  rather  the 
form  in  which  it  is  denounced  against 
the  Satanic  tempter  himself.  The 
fallen  pair  saw  only  the  animal. 

5.  It  is  alleged  that  Satan  is  not 
found  elsewhere  referred  to  in  the 
Old  Testament  till  the  Babylonian 
exile,  and  hence  probably  is  borrow- 


ed from  the  Chaldeans.  But  see 
Job  1:6,"  Satan  came  also  among 
them,"  etc. 

6.  Objectors  say  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  devil  would  have  assumed 
such  an  unsightly  shape,  but  a  more 
attractive  one.  Yet  this  objection 
begs  the  question.  We  may  sup- 
pose that  this  kind  of  serpent  had 
originally  a  very  attractive  form,  and 
received  its  more  degraded  and  grov- 
elling habits  in  the  curse.  The 
term  nachash  is  the  term  used  in 
Numb.  21  :  6  ;  but  with  the  Hebrew 
term  "  seraph," — translated,  "fiery 
serpent."  It  is  "  the  seraph  ser- 
pent" which  God  there  sent  among 
the  people.  The  term  seraph  in  He- 
brew means  fiery.  And  this  kind 
of  serpent  was  probably  a  glisten- 
ing creature,  and  may  have  been 
so  far  attractive,  even  after  the  fall, 
while  the  kindred  terms  of  nachash 
mean  brass  and  enchantment  —  all 
giving  the  impression  of  some  bright, 
glowing,  and  fascinating  appearance, 
as  the  original  idea.  And  as  "  the 
nachash"  in  Numbers,  seems  to  have 
been  a  flying  serpent  and  seraphic, 
the  whole  idea  is  akin  to  that  of  "  an 
angel  of  light"  and  would  seem  to 
be  the  basis  of  that  New  Testament 
reference  to  this  transaction.  The 
term  nachash,  with  a  different  adjec- 
tive, is  used  in  Job  26  :  13,  of  Satan, 
"  the  {crooked)  serpent,"  and  in  Isa. 
27  :  1,  of  leviathan — where  it  may 
mean  the  nachash  fallen. 

^[  And  he  said.  How  far  the  ser- 
pent used  language  has  been  ques- 
tioned by  many.  But  it  is  no  more 
incredible  than  that  "  Balaam's  ass 
spake  with  man's  voice,"  and  this  lat- 
ter is  reasserted  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, (2  Peter  2  :  16.)  f  Yea,  hath 
God  said.  Lit.,  Yea,  more  that. 
Then  it  is  so  that.  Sept.  and  Vulg., 
Why?  or,  Is  it  even  so?  This  is 
spoken  as  insinuating  a  reflection 
upon  the  known  command  of  God. 
"  What  good  is  life  in  Paradise  if 
one  may  not  enjoy  the  things  which 
are  found  therein,  but  only  feels  the 
more  pain  by  seeing  them  beforo 
one's  eyes  while  one  is  forbidden  to 


114 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


2  And  the  woman  said  unto  the  serpent,  We  may  eat  of  the 
fruit  of  the  trees  of  the  garden : 

3  c  But  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
garden,  God  hath  said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye 
touch  it,  lest  ye  die. 

c  ch.  2  :  17. 


take  and  eat  of  them?" — Chrysos- 
tom.  Perhaps  he  insinuates  a  doubt 
of  the  true  understanding  and  inter- 
pretation of  God's  command.  The 
reflection  is  adroitly  cast  upon  the 
credibility  and  reasonableness  of  the 
Divine  prohibition.  So  God's  word  is 
in  our  day  assailed  from  the  ground 
of  reason  and  interpretation,  when 
the  highest  reason  is  to  bow  to  the 
word  and  ordinance  of  God,  as  most 
wise,  and  holy,  just  and  good.  This 
was  Satan,  the  enemy  of  God  and 
man,  speaking  by  the  serpent.  "  Not 
being  able  to  injure  God's  essence  he 
struck  at  His  image.  He  promptly, 
therefore,  attacked  the  first  pair,  that 
by  seducing  man  from  his  duty  he 
might  rob  God  of  the  glory  he  would 
have  in  man's  obedience."  See  Bates' 
Div.  Attrib.  Tf  Of  every  tree.  That 
is — is  it  so  that  God  has  interdicted 
any  of  the  trees  ? 

Observe. — (1.)  The  tempter  makes 
his  attack  upon  the  woman  as  "  the 
weaker  vessel,"  more  inexperienced 
than  the  man,  and  more  dependent. 
He  takes  her  now  alone,  without  the 
presence  and  counsel  of  the  man,  to 
aid  in  withstanding  his  devices. 

(2.)  The  word  of  the  tempter  is 
put  against  the  word  of  God.  "  This 
word  of  God  to  Adam  was  the  gos- 
pel, and  the  law  thus  given  was  his 
worship.  These  are  the  Divine 
things  which  Satan  attacks.  This  is 
his  practice  still,  to  add  another  and 
a  new  word  in  the  church." — Luther. 
(3.)  The  term  subtle  in  Hebrew 
means,  originally,  naked — and  then 
crafty,  agile,  tricky.  Our  first  par- 
ents were  promised  superior  knowl- 
edge. The  result  was  they  came  to 
know  that  they  were  naked.  This 
knowledge  they  gained — the  experi- 
ence of  shame. 


2,  3.  The  woman  is  found  entering 
into  this  conversation.  The  firs! 
great  mistake  was  in  entertaining 
the  question,  and  having  any  word; 
with  the  tempter.  It  would  seeix 
that  she  was  not  shocked  by  the  ser- 
pent's speech,  as  though  it  were 
miraculous ;  and  Oerlach  takes  this 
to  be  evidence  that  Eve  had  already 
been  familiar  with  the  subtlety  of 
this  animal.  Her  guilt  is  all  the 
greater  that  though  she  regards  it 
as  only  an  animal,  she  yet  allows  its 
suggestion  to  weigh  against  the  com- 
mand of  God. 

Observe. — The  Christian  is  not 
to  be  ignorant  of  Satan's  devices, 
(2  Cor.  2  :  11,) — is  not  to  be  beguiled 
through  his  subtlety,  (2  Cor.  11  :  3,) 
— and  is  to  beware,  especially  of  giv- 
ing place  to  any  word  against  the 
word  of  God.  *j[  We  may  eat.  The 
woman  states  the  case — that  the 
free  grant  had  been  made  of  all  the 
trees,  with  only  a  solitary  exception. 
The  abounding  love  ought  to  have 
been  regarded  as  sufficient  ground 
for  the  restriction,  as  founded  in 
goodness  and  love.  And  so  the  wo- 
man had  hitherto  regarded  it.  So 
the  gospel  first  makes  to  us  the  free 
grant  of  all  the  fruits  of  the  Heav- 
enly Paradise — even  of  the  tree  of 
life,  and  on  the  basis  of  such  fore- 
going love,  shows  how  holy,  and 
just,  and  good  is  God's  law  of  prohi- 
bitions and  commands.  "[[  In  the 
midst.  The  tree  of  knowledge  is 
here  referred  to.  In  ch.  2  :  9,  the 
tree  of  life  is  said  to  have  been  "  in 
the  midst  of  the  garden,"  and  the 
tree  of  knowledge.  *f  Neither  shall 
ye  touch  it.  Sam.  Vers.,  Onk.,  Syr., 
approach  to  it.  This  clause  is  added 
by  the  woman.  Calvin  is  willing  to 
regard  it  as  an  evidence  that  her 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


115 


4  d  And  the  serpent  said  unto  the  woman,  Ye  shall  not  surely 
die : 

5  For  God  doth  know,  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  then 
e  your  eyes  shall  be  opened ;  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing 
good  and  evil. 

d  vs.  13  ;  2  Cor.  11:3;  1  Tim.  2  ;  14.     e  vs.  7 ;  Acts  26  :  18. 


mind  already  wavered.  But  it  is 
rather  the  indication  that  she  re- 
garded the  touch  as  also  prohibited 
— and  this  was  the  strict  construction 
which  her  fidelity  had  hitherto  put 
upon  the  command.  "  Touch  not, 
taste  not,  handle  not,"  (Col.  2  :  21.) 
There  is  no  proof  that  she  added 
this  as  a  charge  of  undue  severity 
on  the  part  of  God.  ^[  Lest  ye  die. 
Many  understand  this  as  softening 
the  words  of  the  prohibition — as 
though  she  had  said,  "  Lest  perhaps 
ye  die,"  when  God  had  said,  "  Ye 
shall  surely  die."  Others  find  in  this 
language  of  hers  the  intimation 
that  she  thought  the  tree  was  pro- 
hibited on  account  of  some  poison- 
ous quality  of  the  fruit.  But  this  is 
not  conveyed  in  the  terms.  It  is  sim- 
ply a  weighing  of  the  penalty  against 
the  violation,  as  in  Ps.  2  :  12,  "Kiss 
the  Son  lest  He  be  angry,"  as  He 
surely  will  be.  As  Oerlach  says, 
"  This  answer  shows  that  the  first 
of  our  race  sinned  against  a  clear, 
known  command."     Rom.  5  :  13. 

4.  The  tempter  here  replies  with 
a  positive  contradiction  of  God's 
words.  The  penalty  was  in  the 
strongest  terms,  "Dying  ye  shall 
die."  This  is  a  direct  denial  of  it, 
"  Ye  shall  not  dying  die."  This  idea, 
therefore,  is  not,  "It  is  not  so  cer- 
tain as  you  imagine  that  such  a  dire- 
ful consequence  will  follow  ;"  but 
it  is  certain  that  it  will  not  follow. 
Here  Satan  appears  as  the  father  of 
lies,  John  8 :  44.  Observe. — (1.)  God 
is  not  the  author  of  sin.  Satan  ap- 
pears as  the  tempter,  insinuating  his 
evil  suggestions  and  motives,  while 
the  human  will  appears  as  originat- 
ing the  first  sin  of  the  first  pair. 
Satan  would  have  effected  nothing 
by  his  temptations  had  not  man  wil- 


lingly .and  freely  admitted  his  arts. 
Turretin  holds  that  the  true  cause 
of  sin  is  the  free  will  of  man,  and 
that  the  external  cause  is  Satan. — 
Vol.  I.,  p.  670.  See  James  1  :  13-15. 
(2.)  The  folly,  and  danger,  and  sin 
of  listening  to  temptation.  "  Lead 
us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver 
us  from  the  evil  (one)." 

5.  For  God  doth  know.  That  is, 
"  God  hath  spoken  falsely  in  denoun- 
cing such  a  terrible  doom  upon  this 
simple  eating  of  that  fruit.  For  He 
knows  very  well  that  instead  of  any 
such  fatal  consequence  it  shall  re- 
sult in  your  highest  gain.  This  was 
blasphemy.  The  appeal  "  to  her  is  at 
this  exposed  point"  of  desire  after 
knowledge,  independently  of  God. 
The  tree  of  knowledge  was  a  symbol 
of  the  Divine  knowledge,  in  which 
God  was  to  be  worshipped  and  obeyed 
by  abstaining  from  it — and  submis- 
sion was  to  be  made  to  the  Divine 
word  of  command  as  the  only  rule 
of  faith  and  practice.  Thus,  only 
could  the  tree  of  life  and  all  the 
other  trees  be  enjoyed.  Here,  there- 
fore, the  tempter  tries  his  art — prom- 
ising knowledge  apart  from  God — in 
disobedience  of  God — in  spite  of 
God.  Here  is  promised  a  knowledge 
of  evil,  by  contact  and  converse 
with  it ;  while  only  God  can  thus 
know  it  and  be  uncontaminated  by 
it.  Here  is  the  great  trial  of  the 
race.  Herein  is  the  foul  temptation 
of  the  adversary.  "After  that  in 
the  wisdom  of  God,  the  world  by 
wisdom  knew  not  God,"  1  Cor.  1 :  21. 
It  is  by  consenting  to  be  fools,  in  the 
sense  of  Satan,  that  we  become  wise 
in  the  Divine  sense.  He  who  knows 
this  fundamental  truth  has  attained 
to  the  essence  of  knowledge.  "  The 
fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of 


116 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


wisdom.  A  good  understanding 
liave  all  they  that  do  His  command- 
ments." The  promise  to  the  woman 
was  that  they  both  should  have  their 
eyes  opened,  in  the  very  day  of  eating 
the  fruit,  instead  of  dying  in  that 
very  day — and  that  they  both  should 
be  as  Gods,  or  God,  (Elohim.)  "  The 
tree  of  knowledge  is  not  that  of  life." 
To  aim  at  knowledge  where  God  has 
forbidden  it — or  to  refuse  any  limita- 
tion of  our  knowledge — to  aim  at 
knowledge  without  faith,  and  in  the 
7ery  course  of  disbelief  and  denial 
of  God's  mind  and  will,  is  an  aim 
profanely  to  be  as  God.  This  spirit 
invades  and  claims  the  Divine  pre- 
rogatives. The  question  here  agita- 
ted at  the  threshold  of  human  history 
is  every  way  vital.  c,[  As  Gods.  Lit., 
God.  Sam.  Vers.,  Arab.,  Pers.,  Saad., 
read,  As  angels.  But  the  sense  of  the 
declaration  is  that,  by  this  very 
means,  they  should  attain  to  the  level 
of  God.  This  is  the  motive  of  self- 
exaltation  by  a  false  self-reliance,  not 
knowing  that  man's  highest,  truest 
dignity  is  in  submission  to  God,  as 
the  source  of  light  and  life.  We 
need  not  suppose,  as  some  do,  that 
Satan's  promise  was  meant  to  be 
true  in  a  concealed  sense.  It  was  a 
bold  and  gross  falsehood — a  decep- 
tion in  terms  that  could  come  true 
in  no  proper  sense.  True,  they  came 
to  know  good  and  evil  in  the  bitter 
experience  of  evil,  and  in  the  deeper 
sense  of  good  by  its  loss.  But  in  no 
sense  did  they  become  as  God  by 
this  means,  or,  in  any  way  save  by 
grace.  "  God  can  know  evil  without 
contamination.  Man  cannot.  Sa- 
tan would  persuade  the  man  that 
herein  he  should  be  as  God,  to  know 
evil  as  well  as  good,  and  without 
taint  from  it — that  his  holiness  was 
inviolable  as  God's,  else  God's  must 
be  as  flexible  as  his." — (Gandlish.) 
T  Knowing.  That  is,  ye  shall  be 
knowing  good  and  evil,  as  Gods. 
f  Good  and  evil.  "  The  serpent  rep- 
resents God  as  envious,  as  He  has 
ever  appeared  to  unbelief  to  be. 
(Every  Deity  is  envious,  says  Hero- 


dotus.    Compare  Luke  19  :  21.)     Tli9 
serpent    makes  use  of   man's   con- 
sciousness, (which  had  been  imparted 
to  him  by  God,)  that  he  was  destined 
for  a  higher  resemblance  to  the  Di- 
vine nature,  by  means  of  which  he 
should    acquire   full  freedom   from 
every  temptation :   and  blinds  him 
with    a    deceitful    resemblance,   by 
leading  him  to  suppose  this  likeness 
to   God   lies  in   freedom  of  choice 
merely.      Instead  of  striving  after 
true  freedom,  which  consists  in  the 
mastery  over  incentives  to  evil,  man 
sought,  by  a  wrong  road,  the  mere 
shadow    of    freedom — the  right   of 
being  independent  to   choose  good 
and  evil — to  be  his  own  master,  by 
his  own    experience    to   know  the 
good  and  the  evil  without  consider- 
ing that  it  was  through  the  power 
and  love  of  God  that  he  was  free 
from  the  power  of  sense,  and  so  lord 
of  himself  and  the  earth." — Gerlach. 
The  traditions   of  this  transaction 
have  been  found  in  ancient  mythol- 
ogies.     Among  the  Greeks,  it  was 
Prometheus    who    stole    fire    from 
heaven — and  in  vengeance  Jupiter 
ordered  a  woman,   Pandora,  to   be 
made  of  clay,  who  opened  her  box 
of  diseases  and  evils  upon  the  world. 
'  Apollo,  the  son  of  Jupiter,  destroyed 
:  the  serpent  Python,  and  was  crown- 
;  ed  with  laurel.     The  garden  of  the 
!  Hesperides,  shut  in  by  lofty  moun- 
I  tains  in  Africa,  was  to  be  made  ac- 
!  cessible  by  a   son  of  the  Supreme 
i  Deity  who  would  carry  off  the  gold- 
en apples  of  a  mysterious  tree  in  the 
!  midst,  and  would  destroy  the   ser- 
i  pent  who  guarded  the  tree.     Such 
scattered    traditions  are   traces    of 
j  these  great  historical  truths  which 
I  found  their  way  among  the  nations 
at  the  dispersion  after  the  Deluge. 

Observe. — This  is  the  order  of 
the  temptation.  1st.  The  goodness 
of  God  must  be  disbelieved.  2d.  The 
justice  of  God.  3d.  The  holiness  of 
God.  Herein  was  the  radical  diso- 
j  bedience  of  all  law  ;  for  "  the  law  is 
holy,  and  the  commandment  is  holy 
j  and  just,  and  good." 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


11? 


6  And  when  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food, 
and  that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to 
make  one  wise  ;  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  f  and  did  eat ;  and 
a\-ive  also  unto  her  husband  with  her,  S  and  lie  did  eat. 


f  1  Tim.  2:14.    e  vrs.  12,  17. 


G.  And  when  the  woman  saw.  Sin 
entered  first  through  the  ear,  listen- 
ing to  the  tempter,  and  now  through 
the  eyes,  looking  upon  the  fruit 
which  then  seemed  desirable.  The 
woman  had  hitherto  regarded  it  as 
not  to  be  eaten,  nor  even  touched — 
on  pain  of  death.  The  peace  of  God 
had  kept  her  heart  and  mind  through 
faith.  Now,  having  let  go  the  word 
of  God,  to  give  heed  to  the  seducer, 
she  comes  to  regard  the  forbidden 
thing  in  a  wholly  opposite  light,  till 
she  comes  to  idolize  this  very  source 
of  death.  There  were  now  three 
points  of  attraction  to  her  in  the 
tree.  -1st.  It  was  good  for  food.  She 
may  have  seen  the  serpent  eating  it 
with  a  manifest  gratification.  She 
regarded  it,  doubtless,  as  specially 
good  for  the  awakened  appetite.  It 
was  a  carnal,  sensual  pleasure  that 
stood  first  on  the  list  of  motives, 
"  the  lust  of  the  flesh,"  1  John  2  :  16. 
2nd.  It  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  lit., 
a  desire,  delight  to  the  eyes.  "  The 
lust  of  the  eyes,"  1  John  2  :  16.  This 
was  now  the  increasing  power  of  the 
temptation  as  it  was  wickedly  enter- 
tained. Sam.  Vers.,  desirable  for 
sight,  (i.  e.,)  to  contemplate.  Onk., 
a  medicament,  (i.  e.,)  something  salu- 
tary for  the  eyes.  ^[  And  a  tree. 
Lit.,  And  the  tree  to  be  desired  to 
make  one  wise.  This  is  now  placed 
last  which  had  been  put  forward 
first — and  it  may  still  have  been  the 
prevailing  attraction  :  "The  pride  of 
life,"  (1  John  2  :  16,) — an  ambition  in 
regard  to  exalted  wisdom.  Some 
read  the  verb,  "  to  view,"  as  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  former  idea.  But  the 
verb  in  this  form  means  to  make  wise. 
Eleven  of  the  Psalms  have  their 
title  from  a  participial  form  of  this 
part  of  the  verb,  meaning  "  instruc- 
tion," or,  (marg.,)  giving  instruction. 
She  was  now  depending,  with  im- 


plicit confidence,  on  the  word  of  the 
serpent,  in  opposition  to  the  word  of 
God.  Under  such  an  influence — 
yielding,  instead  of  resisting,  She 
took,  etc.  This  was  the  act.  Already 
she  had  fallen,  in  the  departure  of 
the  heart  from  God,  before  the  act. 
This  was  done  without  any  compul- 
sion, and  of  her  own  choice,  in  view 
of  motives.  The  course  of  sin  was 
this — that  she  was  tempted  when 
she  was  drawn  away  of  her  own  lust 
and  enticed.  Then,  when  lust  con- 
ceived, it  brought  forth  sin,  and  sin, 
when  finished,  brings  forth  death, 
(James  1  :  15.)  The  essence  of  the  sin 
was,  not  in  the  mere  outward  taking 
and  eating  of  that  fruit,  but  in  the 
positive  disobedience  of  God's  ex- 
press command — in  the  face  of  all 
His  love — at  the  instance  of  an  ani- 
mal— and  in  accordance  with  a  blas- 
phemous charge  against  God,  thus 
choosing  Satan  and  his  teachings 
and  promises  instead  of  God.  This 
was  all  sin,  in  one  act.  Offence  in 
this  one  point  involved  guiltiness  of 
all,  (James  2  :  10,)  and  deserved  the 
same  condemnation  as  for  a  violation 
of  ten  commands,  or  a  thousand. 
^  And  gave  also.  As  the  fallen  an- 
gels became  tempters  of  mankind, 
so  the  fallen  woman  became  the 
tempter  of  the  man.  Sinners  be- 
come active  emissaries  of  the  arch 
seducer.  "  The  root  and  source  of 
all  sin,  therefore,  is  disbelief  and 
turning  aside  from  God.  Even  as 
on  the  contrary,  the  root  and  source 
of  all  righteousness  is  faith." — Lu- 
ther. "  When  sin  is  ripened  in  the 
heart  by  unbelief,  the  external  act 
of  disobedience  soon  follows.  This 
is  the  light  in  which  the  nature  of 
sin  is  to  be  considered  according  to 
this  its  true  magnitude — whereby  we 
all  are  ruined." — Luther.  Observe. 
(1.)  Departure  from  the  written  word 


118 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102. 


7  And  h  the  eyes  of  them  both  were  opened,  ?  and  they  knew 
that  they  were  naked  :  and  they  sewed  fig-leaves  together,  and 
made  themselves  aprons. 

h  vs.  5.    i  eh.  2  :  25. 


of  God,  involves,  also,  departure 
from  the  Personal  Word  of  God. 
The  Spirit  (says  Christ,)  shall  con- 
vince men  of  sin,  because  they  be- 
lieve not  on  me,  (John  16  : 9.)  (2.)  The 
intellect,  the  affections,  and  the  will 
were  all  involved  in  the  sin.  Man, 
as  a  rational  and  responsible  being, 
was  created  a  free  agent — though,  in 
his  original  holiness,  he  had  a  bias 
to  what  is  good.  He  was  so  consti- 
tuted as  to  be  liable  to  temptation 
and  sin  through  this  freedom  of  the 
will.  Satan,  and  not  God,  was  the 
external  cause  of  man's  temptation, 
(James  1  :  13-15.)  God  did  not  in- 
terpose to  prevent  this,  because  He 
had,  from  eternity,  a  plan  of  redemp- 
tion which  should  display  His  infi- 
nite grace  in  the  Second  Adam,  with- 
out doing  violence  to  the  moral  con- 
stitution of  the  first  Adam.  Instead 
of  objecting  now  that  God  has  per- 
mitted sin  to  come  into  the  world  by 
Adam,  we  ought  to  rejoice  in  the 
fact  that  He  has  proclaimed  a  free 
and  full  salvation  by  the  Second 
Adam :  and  that  through  Him,  we 
are  promised  infinitely  more  of  glory 
and  blessedDess  than  our  first  father 
lost.  Though  we  fell  in  Adam,  we 
may  rise  by  faith  to  a  higher  estate 
in  Christ — may  become  one  with 
Him — members  of  His  body,  of  His 
flesh,  and  of  His  bones,  and  enter 
into  the  joy  of  our  Lord.  "  God  did 
not  create  man  without  a  possibility 
of  sinning,"  says  Peter  Martyr,  "  be- 
cause such  a  state  would  not  be  suit- 
able to  the  nature  of  any  rational 
creature — since  the  creature  as  a 
creature,  remains  infirm  and  feeble — 
and  not  entirely  one  with  the  Di- 
vine rule,  else  he  would  be  God. 
Grace,  indeed,  could  confirm  him  in 
holiness;  but  this  would  be  better 
appreciated  on  account  of  such  a  fal- 
lible state  preceding." 


7.  The  immediate  effect  of  this 
transgression  upon  the  fallen  pair  is 
here  noted.  It  was,  first  of  all,  in 
the  direction  of  knowledge  which 
they  had  so  wickedly  aspired  after, 
in  contempt  of  God  and  His  law. 
The  eyes  of  them  both  were  opened — 
unclosed,  (as  Satan  had  promised,  vs. 
5,) — and  they  knew — in  the  sense  in 
which  they  had  not  known  it  before, 
(ch.  2  :  25,) — that  they  were  naked. 
They  felt  the  shame  of  that  naked- 
ness, (Rev.  3  :  18,)  which  had  car- 
ried with  it  no  sense  of  shame  in 
their  innocency.  They  knew  now 
their  nakedness  as  a  guilty  exposed- 
ness  to  Divine  wrath — as  a  reason 
why  they  should  hide  themselves 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  God, 
even  after  they  had  covered  their 
bodily  nakedness  with  fig-leaves. 
See  Ps.  34  :  5.  Sin  brings  misery — 
in  anguish  of  conscience,  and  a  dis- 
tressing sense  of  shame.  Henceforth 
fallen  man  needs  to  have  a  con- 
science sprinkled  with  the  blood  of 
Christ — purged  from  dead  works  to 
serve  the  living  God,  (Heb.  9  :  14.) 
A  plan  of  atonement  must  satisfy 
justice,  not  merely  because  justice  is 
the  essence  of  God's  law,  but  because 
justice  is  also  represented  in  the  con 
science  of  man  himself,  which  is  also 
a  dim  transcript  of  that  law.  With- 
out this  satisfaction  there  can  be  no 
peace.  The  shame,  however,  did  not 
lead  them  to  repentance.  ^  They 
sewed  fig-leaves  together.  Rather — 
They  fastened  together  fig-leaves.  Tho 
term  here  used  conveys  no  such  idea 
as  the  use  of  sewing  implements.  It 
means  they  plaited,  or  fastened  to- 
gether the  leaves.  This  was  a  nat- 
ural device.  They  could  thus  make 
themselves  girdles  of  the  leaves 
twisted  together— a  broad  wreath  of 
them  to  fasten  around  their  loins. 
Thus  man's  attempt  is  first  to  cover 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


119 


9  And  they  heard  k  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the 
garden  in  the  cool  of  the  day  :  and  Adam  and  his  wife  }  hid 
themselves  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  God  amongst  the  trees 
of  the  garden. 


k  Job  38  :  1.     Uob  31 


Jer.  23  :  24 ;  Amos  9  :  3. 


his  own  shame.  But  herein  he  tes- 
tifies that  it  needs  to  be  covered,  and 
he  is  to  find  that  God  has  a  better 
covering  for  him.  The  skins  of 
slain  victims  are  provided  for  him, 
and  the)'  speak  of  sacrifice  and  blood 
as  necessary,  (vs.  21,)  "He  that  cov- 
ereth  his  sins  shall  not  prosper,"  etc. 
i  What  flimsy  leaves  are  our  excuses 
!  for  sin !  What  filthy  rag's  are  our 
righteousnesses  for  a  covering !  (Isa. 
64:6.)  Observe.— The  flesh  had 
gained  the  mastery  over  the  spirit. 
The  mind  had  become  carnal.  Rom. 
8:6. 

§  14.  Consequences  op  the  Fall 
— The  curse  upon  the  Ser- 
pent.   Ch.  3  :  8-14. 

8.  Such  a  frail  covering  of  their 
own  could  not  avail  them  when 
God's  voice  was  heard.  "Moses 
here  relates  that  which  manifestly 
remains  in  human  nature,  and  may 
be  clearly  discerned  at  the  present 
day.  The  difference  between  good 
and  evil  is  engraven  on  the  hearts 
of  all.  (Rom.  2  :  15.)  Calvin.  «j[  The 
voice.  The  Personal  Word  of  God 
was  the  agent  in  the  creation.  And 
i  here  it  was  the  voice  ivalking  about — 
1  as  a  personality,  or  the  sound  {(bovrf) 
i  of  His  footsteps,  or  rustling  of  shrub- 
'•  bery  where  He  moved.  Onk. — The 
voice  of  the  word  of  the  Lord.  But 
most  probably  there  was  an  audible 
utterance  and  a  visible  presence, 
from  which  the  guilty  pair  hid  away. 
Some  refer  it  to  thunder,  and  under- 
stand the  walking  to  mean  the  wax- 
lug  louder  and  louder  of  that  sound. 
But  it  is  the  Lord  God  in  the  char- 
acter of  Judge.  See  1  Kings  14  :  6  ; 
2  Kings  6  :  32.  Yet  no  harshness  or 
severity  is  here.  The  change  was 
not  in  God,  but  in  themselves  and 
their  relation  to  Him.    ^[  In  the  cool 


of  the  day.  Heb.,  In  the  wind  of  the 
day.  The  term  here  used  for  wind 
is  the  word  for  Spirit.  It  is  usually 
understood  here  of  the  evening,  as 
the  time  of  the  cooler  air  after  the 
sun  has  set.  The  narrative  may  re- 
fer to  the  same  threefold  aspect  of  the 
Godhead  as  appears  in  the  creation 
by  the  Word  and  the  Spirit.  Calvin 
says,  "  A  notable  symbol  of  the  pres- 
ence of  God  was  in  that  gentle 
breeze."  Ghardin  says  that  among 
the  Persians  the  evening  breeze  is 
still  called  "  the  wind  of  the  dap," 
(Vol.  iv.,  p.  48.)  T[  Hid  themselves. 
It  was  not  that  God  had,  as  yet,  de- 
nounced His  wrath  that  they  fled 
away.  It  was  the  shrinking  away 
of  their  own  shame,  remorse  and 
fear.  It  was  all  from  conscious  guilt. 
So  sin  drives  us  to  shun  God — to 
seek  escape  from  His  notice,  and 
from  His  presence,  and  even  from 
His  favor.  Even  when  we  hear  the 
gospel  voicu  of  Him  who  went  about 
doing  good  we  shun  it  and  cannot 
receive  its  glad  tidings,  because  we 
are  held  by  this  instinctive  dread  of 
God  which  belongs  to  the  sense  of 
sin.  So  the  wicked  servant  in  the 
parable,  "  I  knew  thee  that  thou 
art  an  hard  man,  etc.,  and  I  was 
afraid  and  went  and  hid  thv  talent 
in  the  earth,"  (Matt.  25  :  25.)  But 
how  ruinous  to  flee  where  there  is  no 
escape.  How  foolish  to  flee  where 
there  is  offered  mercy.  ^[  Amongst 
the  trees.  Lit.,  In  the  midst  of  the 
trees — amongst  which  they  had  sin- 
ned. They  could  find  only  the 
memorials  of  their  sin,  even  in  the 
beautiful  thickets,  and  groves,  and 
bowers  of  Paradise.  But  for  their 
wicked  disobedience  these  had  all 
been  theirs  to  enjoy.  Now  they 
furnish  no  enjoyment.  They  fly 
to  them  for  a  screen  from  God's 
sight. 


120 


GENESIS.  [B.  C.  1102. 

and  said  unto  him, 


9  And  the  Lord  God  called  unto  Ad? 
Where  art  thou  ? 

10  And  he  said,  I  heard  thy  voice  in  the  garden :  m  and  I  was 
afraid,  because  I  was  naked  ;  and  I  hid  myself. 

11  And  he  said,  Who  told  thee  that  thou  toast  naked?     Hast 


m  ch.  2  :  25 ;  Exod.  3  :  6  ;  1  John  3  :  20. 


9.  What  now  was-  said  by  the  of- 
fended God  to  the  fallen  pair  ?  He 
only  asked  of  Adam,  (the  head,)  the 
simple  question,  Where  art  thou? 
Doubtless  God  was  come  near  now — 
was  intent  on  an  interview  with  the 
fugitive  pair — was  calling  them  to 
account,  as  their  consciences  plainly 
testified.  This  made  these  words  so 
severe  and  alarming.  However 
they  might  often  have  been  uttered 
before,  when  all  was  peace,  they 
carry  with  them  and  in  them  now, 
the  terrors  of  judgment.  So  the 
word  of  God  shall  call  out  all  sin- 
ners from  their  hiding-places  to  the 
judgment — and  they  shall  seek  ref- 
uge in  vain  from  'the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb,  (Rev.  6  :  16.)  Now,  however, 
God  graciously  calls  us,  and  bids  us 
not  fear,  nor  hide  away,  but  come  to 
Him,  and  take  refuge  in  Himself. 
The  office  of  the  Law  is  to  search  us 
out,  and  expose  our  sin,  (Rom.  7  :  9.) 
The  office  of  the  gospel  is  to  point 
us  to  the  only  righteousness,  (John 
1  :  29.)  The  sense  of  sin  is  to  drive 
us  unto  Christ,  not  away  from  Him. 
Though  both  Adam  and  Eve  had 
sinned,  and  Eve  first,  Adam  is  first 
sought  out,  as  the  head  of  his  wife, 
and  of  his  posterity. 

Observe. — (1.)  '''These  words  of 
God  show  His  love  towards  our  fallen 
race — showing  that  God  will  seek 
after  man,  and  will  call  him  back, 
after  he  has  sinned  that  He  may  dis- 
pute with  him,  and  hear  what  he 
has  to  say.  All  this  (properly  un- 
derstood,) was  a  sure  signification  of 
grace.  For  although  these  words 
were  legal  and  judicial  words  ;  yet 
they  set  before  Adam  and  Eve  a 
hope,  by  no  means  obscure,  that 
they  should  not  be  condemned  for- 
ever."— Luther. 


10.  While  the  Divine  word  said 
only  "  Where  art  thou?" — without 
mentioning  the  name — Adam  replies, 
knowing  who  is  sought.  Lit. — ^ 
was  afraid,  because  naked  {am)  I. 
Adam's  reply  is  full  of  evasion. 
He  confesses  not  his  sin,  but  only  his 
fear  and  shame  at  his  bodily  naked- 
ness. The  question  just  asked  had 
given  him  opportunity  to  own  his 
sin  and  misery.  His  sense  of  bodily 
nakedness  is  indeed  the  sad  proof  of 
his  nakedness  of  soul,  that  could  not 
any  longer  bear  the  sight  of  God. 
And  now  fear  has  taken  possession 
of  his  soul  where  all  was  peace  be- 
fore. And  as  "  perfect  love  casts  out 
fear,"  fear  shows  the  love  cast  out. 
But  the  prodigal,  in  rags,  ought  to 
go  to  his  father.  Thus  only  can  he 
get  the  best  robe,  and  ring,  and 
shoes,  and  welcome.  We  are  called 
by  Jesus  Christ  to  buy  of  Him  white 
(pure)  raiment  that  we  may  be 
clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  our 
nakedness  do  not  appear,"  Rev.  3  :  18. 
What  are  the  fig-leaves  sewn  to- 
gether by  us  to  cover  us  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God?  God  Himself  must 
clothe  us  with  clothing  of  His  handi- 
work, (vs.  21.) 

11.  The  answer  to  Adam's  evasion 
draws  out  the  truth — probing  the 
heart  to  the  very  depths.  ^[  Who 
told  thee,  (lit.,)  that  naked  {art)  thou  ? 
Whence  did  you  get  this  knowledge  ? 
You  who  have  been  madly  grasping 
after  the  tree  of  knowledge — you 
have  found  out  this  nakedness  of 
yours — and  how?  It  was  only  the 
sinful  act  that  gave  them  this  sense 
of  shame,  and  this  fear  on  account 
of  it.  Shrinking  from  the  presence 
of  God,  along  with  shame,  fear,  and 
falsehood  is  the  bitter  first  fruit 
of   sin.      Herein    is    death,    as  the 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


121 


thou   eaten   of  the  tree  whereof  I  commanded  thee,  that  thou 
shouldest  not  eat? 

12  And  the  man  said,  n  The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to  he 
with  me,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree,  and  I  did  eat. 

13  And  the  Lokd  God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  that 
thou  hast  done  ?  And  the  woman  said,  °  The  serpent  beguiled 
me,  and  I  did  eat. 


n  ch.  2  :  IS  ;  Job  31 :  33  ;  Prov.  28  :  13.    o  vs.  4 ;  2  Cor.  11:3;  1  Tim.  2  :  14. 


threatened  separation  from  God — the 
spiritual  death,  which  involves  also 
the  physical  dissolution — and  which 
carries  with  it  the  death  eternal,  to 
the  unrepenting  and  unrenewed  sin- 
ner. Adam,  as  yet,  knew  not  how 
this  very  shame  and  fear  betrayed 
him.  Conscience,  no  longer  approv- 
ing but  condemning,  had  begun  to 
gnaw  in  his  soul.  *fi  Hast  tho u  eaten  ? 
Thus  closely  is  he  followed  up 
and  forced  to  the  acknowledgment. 
Here  he  is  pressed  with  the  strictest 
inquiry  which  calls  for  a  definite 
answer,  yea  or  nay.  The  Gr.  vers., 
"  Of  which  I  commanded  thee  of  this 
alone  not  to  eat."  God  would  also 
force  upon  his  conviction  the  fact 
that  this  transgression  was  the  cause 
of  his  sense  of  nakedness,  and  that 
he  had  thus,  indeed,  sadly  attained  to 
"  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil." 

12.  Instead  of  humbly  confessing 
his  own  sin  and  shame,  the  man 
seeks  to  throw  the  blame  on  the 
woman,  and  on  God  Himself.  "A 
lively  picture  of  corrupt  nature  is 
presented  to  us  in  Adam  from  the 
moment  of  his  revolt." — Calvin.  Now 
he  breaks  out  into  coarse  blasphemy. 
As  much  as  to  say,  "  Had  it  not  been 
for  the  woman  I  should  not  have 
sinned.  It  is  all  your  own  fault  for 
giving  me  the  woman  to  be  a  tempter 
to  me."  So  "  we  also,  trained  in  the 
same  school  of  original  sin,  are  too 
ready  to  resort  to  subterfuges  of  the 
same  kind." — Calvin.  So  the  natural 
heart  is  found  reproaching  God,  as 
the  author  of  its  corrupt  nature,  and 
as  at  fault  for  allowing  sin  in  the 
world :  rather  than  humbly  confess- 
ing the  sin,  and  gratefully  accepting 
the  free  salvation.     "  This  is  the  ef- 


fect of  the  law  when  it  is  beheld 
without  the  gospel  and  the  knowl- 
edge of  grace.     It  leads  to  despair 

and    final    impenitence." Luther. 

Observe. — Adam  was  not  deceived 
as  Eve  was,  by  the  serpent.  He 
took  the  woman  to  be  his  God.     See 

1  Tim.  2  :  13,  14. 

13.  God  will  now  hear  the  woman 
also  before  pronouncing  the  sentence. 
Rash  and  foolish  as  is  the  plea  of 
Adam,  He  will  not  dispute  further 
with  him,  but  turning  to  Eve  He 
says,  "  What  is  this  thou  hast  done  ?" 
He  will  give  her,  also,  opportunity 
for  confession  and  repentance.  So 
with  Ananias  and  Sapphira  when 
confronted  by  the  apostle  in  the 
early  history  ot  the  New  Testament 
church,  (Acts  5  :  3,  8.)  "  For  Adam 
was  first  formed,  then  Eve,"  (1  Tim. 

2  :  13.)  Adam  was  set  up  as  head 
of  the  race,  and  ought  to  have  re- 
garded God  rather  than  make  a  God 
of  the  woman.  "And  Adam  was 
not  deceived,  but  the  womaa  being 
deceived  was  in  the  transgression," 
1  Tim.  2  :  14.  She  who  was  given 
to  the  man  by  God  as  an  help,  meet, 
or  suitable  for  him,  was  allowed  by 
Adam  to  lead  him  to  destruction. 
^[  The  serpent  beguiled  me.  The  wo- 
man casts  the  blame  upon  the  ser- 
pent. And  doubtless  the  serpent 
was  the  malicious  agent  in  the  trans- 
action. She  acknowledges  that  a 
brute  has  led  her  away  from  the  good 
God  and  Father.  But  she  palliates 
as  much  as  to  say,  "If  it  had  not 
been  for  the  serpent  whom  you 
made  with  such  beguiling  powers 
and  arts,  I  would  not  have  sinned." 
Or,  "I  received  from  the  serpent 
what  thou  hadst  forbidden.      The 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  410; 


14  And  the  Lord  God  said  P  unto  the  serpent,  Because  thou 
hast  done  this,  thou  art  cursed  above  all  cattle,  and  above  every 
beast  of  the  field:  upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  q  dust  shalt 
thou  eat  all  the  days  of  thy  life : 

p  Esod.  21  :  29,  32.     q  Isa.  65  :  25  ;  Mic.  7  :  17. 


serpent,  therefore,  was  the  impos- 
tor."— Calvin,  ^f  Beguiled  me.  Led 
me  astray — deceived  me  by  flatter- 
ing lies.  But  who  compelled  Eve  to 
listen  to  his  seductions,  and  to  con- 
fide in  them  more  than  in  the  word 
of  God  ? — Calvin.  This  confession 
betrays  her  sin  and  shame.  Ob- 
serve.— God  has  appointed  a  day 
for  a  public  and  final  judgment  of 
all  men,  that  all  may  be  judged  in 
righteousness,  and  that  He  may  be 
fully  vindicated  before  the  universe, 
(Acts.  17  :  31.) 

14.  God  speaks  to  the  serpent  in 
very  different  language  from  His 
calls  of  tenderness  to  Adam  and 
Eve.  He  pronounces  at  once  upon 
the  tempter  the  sentence  of  judg- 
ment.— Luther.  "  This  was  because 
in  the  animal  there  was  no  sense  of 
sin,  and  because  to  the  devil  He 
would  hold  out  no  hope  for  par- 
don."— Calvin.  The  curse  which 
here  is  directed  upon  the  serpent 
reaches  farther,  and  is  meant  to  ter- 
minate upon  Satan  himself.  It  was 
fulfilled  symbolically  upon  the  ani- 
mal, and  whether  his  form  was  de- 
graded or  not,  the  human  race  car- 
ries everywhere  an  inborn  aversion 
and  hostility  to  the  serpent  tribe,  as 
a  striking  memorial  of  this  sentence. 
The  guilty  pair  looked  upon  the  an- 
imal as  the  source  of  their  ruin,  and 
for  their  sakes  it  was  needful  that 
they  should  see  the  curse  visited  upon 
the  agent  of  the  temptation.  It  was 
also  right,  every  way,  that  the  ani- 
mal should  be  cursed  on  man's  ac- 
count for  having  served  to  lead  him 
into  transgression.  So  even  the 
ground  is  cursed  for  man's  sake. 
And  "  the  whole  creation  groan eth 
and  travaileth  in  pain  waiting  for 
the  adoption — the  redemption  of  our 
bodies,"  (Rom.  8  :  22.)   f  Cursed  (art) 


thou,,  etc.  At  first  "  the  serpent  was 
more  subtle  than  all  the  beasts  of 
the  field,"  (Gen.  3  : 1.)  Nov/  he  is 
cursed  above,  (or  from)  them.  The 
idea  is  not  that  he  was  to  be  more 
cursed  than  the  other  animals, 
(though  the  particle  has  commonly 
this  comparative  force,)  but  he  was  to 
be  distinguished  among  the  animals 
by  this  curse.  It  is  so — that  the  ser- 
pent is  shunned  and  battled  with  by 
the  other  animals.  Observe. — God 
here  evidently  takes  part  against 
the  serpent,  and  thus  plainly  indi- 
cates His  purpose  of  redemption. 
TT  Upon  thy  belly.  Many  infer  from 
these  words  that  the  serpent  had 
hitherto  walked  in  some  erect  pos- 
ture— at  least  with  head  and  neck 
erect — and  that  this  mark  of  degra- 
dation was  now  set  upon  the  form 
of  the  animal  serpent — that  it  should 
crawl  entirely  prostrate.  Others 
think  that  its  natural  condition  was 
now  converted  into  a  disgrace  and 
punishment.  But  it  could  be  only 
a  token  of  Divine  displeasure  for  the 
sake  of  mankind ;  unless  we  may 
suppose  that  the  animal  who  was  so 
eminently  subtle,  possessed  such  in- 
telligence before  the  fall,  as  to  feel 
the  degradation — and  that  it  was 
now  lowered  in  the  order  of  being. 
Besides,  here  was  a  prophetic  inti- 
mation of  the  victory  which  is 
promised  in  vs.  15,  over  the  Old  Ser- 
pent, which  is  the  Devil,  even  Satan. 
As  extending  through  the  animal 
serpent  to  the  devil,  it  would  express 
the  humiliation,  and  contempt,  and 
shame  which  should  fall  upon  him. 
Rom.  16  :  20,  "  And  the  God  of  peace 
shall  bruise  Satan  under  your  feet 
shortly."  %  Bust  shalt  thou  eat. 
Bochari  understands  ths  >,  b<  erase  it 
creeps  upon  the  ground  it  takes  the 
dust  with  its  food.    (JSier.  i.,  ch.  4.) 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


123 


15  And  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and 
between  r  thy  seed  and  s  her  seed:  fc  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and 
thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel. 


r  Matt.  8  :  T;  13  :  38  :  23  :  33  ;  John  8  :  44  ;  Acts  13  10 
:  14 ;  Mic.  5  :  3  ;  Matt.  1  :  '23,  '25  ;  Luke  1:31,  34,  3-5 ; 
:  15  ;  Heb.  2  :  14  ;  1  John  5:5;  Rev.  12  :  T  :  IT. 


Uohn  3  :8.     s  Ps.  132  :  11;  Isa. 
Gal.  4:4.     t  Rom.  16  :  20 ;  Col. 


Isaiah,  when  describing  the  new  cre- 
ation of  things  under  Christ  says 
that  dust  shall  be  the  serpent's  meat, 
Isa.  65  :  25.  "  Thine  enemies  shall 
lick  the  dust,"  is  expressive  of  utter 
vanqnishment.  (See  Micah  7  :  17.) 
Luther  thinks  that  we  are  here 
tauarht  that  the  nature  of  the  ser- 


pent is  entirely  changed  since  the 
fall.  And  this  would  seem  to  agree 
with  the  narrative  foregoing  where 
be  is  represented  as  attractive  and 
fascinating.  ^[  All  the  days  of  thy 
life.  Perpetually,  until  he  shall  be 
cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  Matt. 
25  :  41,  46  ;  Rev.  12  :  9 ;  20  :  10. 


PART  II. 

From  the  First  Promise  to  the  Flood. 


§  15.  The  First  Promise  of  a 
Messiah — Curse  upon  the  Wo- 
man and  the  Man.    Ch.  3 :  15-19. 

15.  The  curse  is  now  extended  so  as 
plainly  to  apply  also  to  the  devil,  and 
so  as  to  become  a  promise  to  man- 
kind. The  natural  enmity  which 
exists  between  the  human  race  and 
the  serpent  race,  is  a  type,  in  out- 
ward nature,  of  the  higher  trui  ii  — 
and  ought  to  be  a  reminder  of  it  to 
men.  As  this  was  spoken  as  a  curse 
against  the  tempter,  it  was  plainly  in 
favor  of  the  woman,  and  was  so  far 
an  encouragement  as  to  the  result. 
The  seducer  had  appeared  in  the 
form  of  a  serpent,  (when  the  serpent 
was  as  an  angel  of  light,)  and  the 
friendship  of  that  tempter  had  proved 
ruinous  to  the  race.  But  these  rela- 
tions were  to  be  reversed.  Enmity 
should  take  the  place  of  that  fatal 
friendship.  This  should  extend  to 
the  respective  races,  showing  the 
far-reaching  results.  *[  Between  thy 
seed.  Wicked  men  and  devils.  This 
transaction  affected  the  whole  race 
of  man  also.  The  general  idea  is 
plain — that  between  these  respective 
races  this  mutual  hostility  should  be 


carried  out,  and  with  victorious  re- 
sults to  "  the  seed  of  the  woman." 
Some  take  the  phrase,  "  seed  of  the 
woman,"  to  mean  posterity  in  gen- 
eral. This  is  the  widest  sense.  But 
it  is  not  strictly  true  that  all  the 
human  family  have  kept  up  this 
enmity  against  Satan :  and  it  is  not 
the  human  race  as  such  which  des- 
troys Satan.  "  For  this  purpose  the 
Son  of  God  was  manifested  that  He 
might  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil,"  1  John  3  : 8.  This  He  has 
already  done  virtually  by  His  cross. 
(See  Heb.  2  :  14.)  "  He  spoiled  princi- 
palities and  powers,  and  made  a  show 
of  them  openly  triumphing  over  them 
in  it,"  Col.  2:15.  Though  the  king- 
dom of  light  should  at  length  tri- 
umph over  the  kingdom  of  darkness, 
yet  a  person  is  here  referred  to. 
"  He,"  the  personal  pronoun,  which 
is  sometimes  used  as  a  title  of  God, 
as  against  idols,  who  are  not  persons, 
but  things.  "Art  not  thou  He?" 
Jer.  14:22.  Bishop  Horsley  sug- 
gests that  the  phrase,  "seed  of  the 
woman"  fixes  the  reference  to 
Christ,  as  it  no  where  else  occurs, 
and  He  was  most  peculiarly  "  the 
seed  of  the  woman"  as  He  had  a 


124 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102 


human  mother  and  no  human  father. 
"  It  is  singular  to  find  that  this  sim- 
ple phrase,  coming  in  naturally  and 
incidentally  in  a  sentence  uttered  four 
thousand  years  before  the  Christian 
era,  and  penned  at  least  fifteen  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ's  advent, 
describes,  exactly  and  literally,  Him 
who  was  made  of  woman  without 
the   intervention   of  man,   that  He 
might    destroy    the  works    of   the 
devil." — Murphy.      All   the   wicked 
of  our  race  are  the  seed  of  the  ser- 
pent, (Matt.  13  :  38  ;  John  8  :  44,)  and 
they  all  shall  have  their  lot  with  the 
devil  and  his  angels  (Matt.  25  :  41,) 
if  they  continue  incorrigible  and  un- 
believing.    And  all  the  good  have 
an   affinity  with   Christ,  and   shall 
share  with  Him  in  His  glory  and 
joy.     Christ  and  His  people  are  often 
referred  to  in  the  Prophets  as  a  com- 
plex Person — Head    and  members. 
He    shall    conquer    Satan   and  his 
hosts,  (Isa.  42  : 1.)    Jesus   Christ  is 
the  Head  of  the  body.     He  is  ex- 
presslv  "the    seed,"   as  Paul  has 
shown,  (Gal.   3  :  16,  19.)    1"  It  shall 
bruise.     Literally,   "He  shall,"  etc. 
As  yet  the  Personal  Deliverer  was 
not   clearly  set  forth ;  though  Eve 
seems  to  have  been  led  to  expect  a 
son  as  the  Promised  One,  (Gen.  4 : 1.) 
This  Protevangelium — or  first  gospel 
— took  its  shape  from  the  immediate 
circumstances,  and  it  is   clothed  in 
the  drapery  of  the  scene,  so  as  to  be 
intelligible  to   those  of   that  time, 
while  it  would  stand  on  record  to  be 
developed  in  its  deeper  sense,  after- 
wards, in  the  advancing  light  of  the 
gospel.      Christ,   the   Messiah,   was 
afterwards  more  distinctly  set  forth. 
The  promised  seed  was  restricted  to 
the  seed  of  Abraham — then  further 
to   the   family   of    Judah — then,  at 
length,  to  the  house  of  David.    Ob- 
serve.— We  shall  find  one  prophetic 
promise   of   Christ    connected  with 
each  of  the  four  great  epochs  of  the 
patriarchal    history,    the    Fall — the 
Flood — the  Covenant  with  Abraham 
and  the  Exodus  from  Egypt ;  one  with 
each  of  the  heads  of  the  race,  Adam, 
Noah.  Abraham,  and  these  pointing- 


forward  to   the  Chief  Head  of  the 
race  —  the     Second    Adam  —  Jesus 
Christ.     The  personal  seed — the  ser- 
vant of  Jehovah — the  coming  one — 
He  shall  bruise  thee  (as  to  the)  head. 
So  fatal  against    Satan   should  be 
the   power   of  Christ    as    Mediator 
and  Redeemer.      As  the  serpent  is 
destroyed    by    crushing    the    head 
where    its    poison    lies,    so    Christ 
would  trample  upon  Satan  so  as  to 
crush  his  poisonous  powers  in  the 
earth,  and  give  His  church  victory 
over  Satan's  hosts.     "  The  God  of 
peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under  your 
feet  shortly,"  (Rom.  16  :  20.)     Satan 
is  to  be  bound  and  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire,  (Rev.  20  :  10.)     Christ  beheld 
Satan  as  lightning  fall  from  heaven, 
(Lake   10:18.)     He  is   called  "the 
prince  of  this  world,"  and  is  judged, 
or  condemned,  (John  16  :  11.)     *|  He 
shall  bruise.      Some  editions  of  the 
Vulgate  read,  site  ;  and  this  is  pleaded 
by  the  papacy  as  referring  to  the 
Virgin  Mary — by  whom,  indeed, 
they  have  crowded  out  Christ  and 
are    leagued    with   Satan.     *j[  And 
thou  shalt  bruise  him  (as  to  the)  heel. 
This  is  the  temporary  and  remote 
power  which  Satan  was  to  have  over 
the  church—"  the  body  of-  Christ," 
but  only  in  the  extremities,  not  at 
the  heart.     Thus  he  was  allowed  to 
afflict  Christ  in  the  flesh  as  his  great 
antagonist,     tempting     Him,     and 
bruising  Him,  departing  from  Him 
but    only    "  for    a    season,"    (Luke 
4  :  13.)     Thus  he  would  worry  and 
annoy  His  people  with  afflictions, 
temptations,  and  persecutions.     But 
it  should  be  at  the  heel — passingly — 
and  where  the  wound  is  most  harm- 
less, and  least  of  all  fatal. 

Observe. — (1.)  Though  Adam  and 
Eve  did  not  fully  understand  the 
promise,  as  we  suppose,  at  first,  it 
was  couched  in  such  terms  as  to  be 
most  intelligible  to  them,  and  the 
general  sense  of  it  was  apparent. 
We  may  reasonably  infer  from  the 
sequel  of  the  history  that  they  em- 
braced the  promise  by  faith — as  Abel 
did — in  their  household,  (Heb.  11 :4.) 
(2.)  Satan  had  fallen  and  been  con- 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


125 


16  Unto  the  woman  he  said,  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  sor- 
row and  thy  conception  ;  u  in  sorrow  thou  shalt  bring  forth  chil- 
dren :  w  and  thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall x  rule 
over  thee. 

17  And  unto  Adam  he  said,  y  Because  thou  hast  hearkened 
unto  the  voice  of  thy  wife,  z  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree,  a  of  which 
I  commanded  thee,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it :  b  cursed  is 
the  ground  for  thy  sake;  c  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the 
days  of  thy  life  ; 

u  Ps.  43  :  6  ;  Isa.  13  :  8 ;  21  :  3  ;  John  16  :  21  ;  1  Tim.  2  :  15.  w  ch.  4:7.  x  1  Cor.  11:3; 
14:34;  Eph.  5:22,  23,  24;  1  Tim.  2:  11,  12;  Tit.  2:5;  1  Peter 3  : 1,  5,  6.  yl  Sam.  15:23; 
z  vs.  G.     a  ch.  2  :  17.    b  EccL  1  :  2,  3  ;  Isa.  24 :  5,  G ;  Rom.  8  :  20.     c  Job  5  :  7  ;  Eccl.  2  :  23. 


demiied  before.  But  now  this  curse 
is  pronounced  upon  him  for  the  sake 
of  our  first  parents  and  their  race,  to 
show  that  he  is  God's  enemy  as  well 
as  man's — and  to  make  us  rejoice  ia 
Him  who  was  to  come.  "  They  hear 
God  declare  that  He  has  put  them 
into  the  ranks  of  a  constituted  army 
against  their  condemned  foes,  and 
that  too  with  the  hope  of  an  Al- 
mighty help  which  the  Son  of  God 
— the  seed  of  the  woman — should 
bring  unto  them." — Luther.  See  1 
John  2  :  13  ;  Luke  2  :  21. 

16.  Unto  the  woman,  etc.  What- 
ever curse  is  now  denounced  against 
the  woman,  hope  has  already  sprung 
up  to  mitigate  the  penalty.  After 
such  a  sentence  against  the  enemy, 
the  race  needs  not  despair.  Liter- 
ally, Multiplying  I  will  multiply  thy 
sorrow,  etc, — I  will  surely,  (or  great- 
ly,) multiply,  etc.  She  should  have 
sorrow  and  pain  as  a  mother,  yet  she 
should  still  retain  her  sex — still  be 
a  woman  and  a  mother — and  what 
is  most  and  best,  she  should  be  a 
mother  with  reference  to  the  prom- 
ised seed.  Though  she  should  have 
sorrows  peculiar  to  her  sex,  yet  this 
would  be  only  in  order  to  the  coming 
of  the  Promised  Deliverer  through 
her.  Here,  we  see,  there  was  a  bless- 
ing along  with  the  curse.  ^[  And 
thy  desire  {shall  be)  to  thy  husband, 
etc.  Similar  language  is  used  to 
Cain  in  regard  to  his  birthright 
superiority  over  Abel,  (ch.  4  :  7,)  and 
the  meaning  seems  to  be — Thou 
©halt  look  up  to  thy  husband — recog- 


nize him  as  superior  and  be  subject  to 
him.  So  Sarah  called  Abraham  lord. 
The  husband  is  head  of  the  wife  as 
Christ  is  Head  of  the  church,  (Eph. 
5  :  23.)  She  who  was  given  to  man 
from  his  own  side  as  part  of  himself, 
and  a  help  suited  for  him,  became 
his  immediate  tempter,  and  now  she 
is  to  be  "  the  weaker  vessei,"  and 
her  glory  is  to  be  in  her  dependence 
and  trustful  confidence.  This  is 
thought  by  some  to  include  rather  a 
prediction  of  that  servile,  degraded 
condition  to  which  the  sex  should  be 
reduced,  as  it  has  been  in  the  East. 
But,  doubtless,  it  looks  also  to  the 
altered  condition  of  things  in  which 
the  woman  was  to  be  reminded, 
by  her  secondary  position,  of  her 
primary  part  in  the  first  transgres- 
sion. Christianity  has  always  ele- 
vated the  female  sex,  but  the  Scrip- 
ture has  never  claimed  for  them  an 
equal  share  in  government. 

17.  Adam  is  now  sentenced  last, 
as  he  was  last  in  the  transgression. 
Adam  is  cursed  for  yielding  to  tho 
temptation,  and  is  not  excusable  be- 
cause tempted,  (James  1  :  13-15.) 
But  it  is  plain  that  not  only  he  but 
his  descendants  with  him  are  cursed. 
This  was  just  and  right  according  to 
that  constitution  by  which  all  tho 
race  may  be  viewed  as  in  the  loins 

j  of  their  first  father.  But  as  it  was 
only  constructively  their  personal  act, 

|  God  has  been  pleased  to  place  the 
sentence  of  the  race  on  the  ground 
of  a  legal  imputation,  accounting  it 
as  if  it  had  been  their  personal  act, 


m 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4103. 
forth  to  thee ;  and 


18  d  Thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  brim 
e  thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field: 

19  f  In  the  sweat  of  thy  faee  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou 
return  unto  the  ground  ;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken  :  §  for  dust 
thou  art,  and  h  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return. 


a  Job  31:  40.      ePs.  104:14.      f  Eecl.  1:13;  5 

34  :  15  ;  Ps.  10 1 :  20  ;  EccL  3  :  20  ;  12  :  7  ;  Rom.  5 


Thess.  3  :  10.      g  cb. 
12;  Heb.  9:  27. 


:  7.     h  Job  22  :  26  i 


and  this  in  connexion  with  the 
natural  constitution  by  which  they 
are  one  with  Adam.  And  so  over 
against  this  He  is  pleased  to  set  to 
the  account  of  all  believers  the  fin- 
ished work  of  Christ,  as  though  it 
wore  personally  their  work.  And 
this,  in  connexion  with  that  spiritual 
constitution  by  which  they  are  made 
one  witli  Christ.  ®[  Hast  heark- 
ened. Adam's  excuse  is  here  refer- 
red to,  and  shown  to  be  vain.  He  is 
condemned  because  he  hearkened  to 
her  xoice  instead  of  to  the  voice  of 
Cod.  *§  Cursed  (is)  the  ground  for 
thy  sake.  A  great  change  passed 
upon  the  earth.  No  longer  was 
Adam  to  till  a  Paradise.  The  curse 
upon  the  ground  really  fell  upon  him. 
(vs.  18,)  and  all  his  labor  and  toil 
were  to  remind  him  of  his  own  griev- 
ous fall.  He  was  doomed  now  to 
labor  and  sorrow.  Yet  this  curse  of 
labor  carried  in  it  also  an  element  of 
blessing  for  the  fallen  race — for  to 
man,  as  fallen,  idleness  and  indolence 
are  the  greatest  curse. 

13.  Thorns,  etc.  Heb.,  Thorn  and 
thistle,  (collectively.)  This  shall  be 
the  spontaneous  product  of  the 
earth.  ^[  To  thee — instead  of  all  the 
fruits  of  Paradise,  (Heb.  6  :  8.)  And 
often  thy  greatest  toil  shall  gel 
a  bare  subsistence.  **[  Thou  shalt 
eat  the  herb  of  the  field.  This  may 
be  understood  as  a  promise  that  the 
field  shall  nevertheless  yield  its 
i  for  his  food — or  as  part  of  the 
curse — thai  I  come  down  so 

low   as  fco  eat  like   the   brutes   the 
herbage  of  the  field,  ins  t  ■    : 
Use. 

19.  In  the  sweat,  etc.  The  Divine 
constitution  in  this  fallen  state  i-; 
tiiat  men  shall  get  their  food  by  their 


toil.  So  said  the  apostles,  "  If  any 
would  not  work,  neither  should  he 
eat,"  (2  Thess.  3:10.)  But  labor 
though  compulsory  is  also  health- 
ful, and  gives  employment  to  the 
mind,  so  as"  to  conduce  to  the  high- 
est happiness.  The  sleep  of  the  la- 
boring man  is  sweet,  (Eccl.  5  : 1'2.) 
And  a  blessing  is  pronounced  upon 
the  laborers  in  Christ's  cause,  for 
they  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their 
works  do  follow  them,  (Rev.  11 :  13.) 
Yet  this  sentence  includes  all  the 
sorrows  and  pains  and  sweating  toils 
to  which  men  are  subject  in  gaining 
a  livelihood.  And  it  is  meant  that 
our  daily  and  hourly  troubles  and 
hardships  and  privations  should  re- 
mind us  of  our  sin.  But  labor  is 
honorable,  and  not  to  be  despised, 
now  under  the  gospel  of  Christ,  who 
made  labor  and  sorrow  sacred  and 
sweet,  and  turned  the  curse  into  a 
blessing.  This  applies  to  all  honest 
labor,  and  not  to  husbandry  alone. 
%  Bread.  A  general  term  for  food. 
c~  Till  thou  return.  Here  is  the  great 
leading  item  of  the  curse  —  death. 
And  all  along,  the  man,  in  his  daily 
labors,  is  returning  to  the  gro 
lie  has  become  mortal  by  gin,  and 
he  must  be  in  some  sense  a  laborer 
till  death.  Yet  death  itself,  though 
given  here  as  a  curse,  is  • 
by  Christ  into  a  blessing  to  his  peo- 
ple. So  he  bruises  Satan  in  the  very 
head.  -Death  is  now  to  them  the 
only  avenue  to  eternal  life  and 
s,  when  all  these  labors 
shall  have  an  end.  It  is  only  tUi 
then.    Thus  deal  »ur  :o  st 

happy  exchange  of  \v  i  1  all 

that  are  Chris  sp  in  Jesus,  and 

he  guards   their  dust    as   precious. 
tt,  For.    A  reason  is  assigned  whj 


B.  C.  4103.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


127 


20  And  Adam  called  his  wife's  name  Eve,  because  she  was  the 
mother  of  all  living. 

21  Unto  Adam  also  and  to  his  wife  did  the  Lord  God  make 

coats  of  skins,  and  clothed  them. 


the  body  is  to  return  to  the  ground, 
because  man  was  made  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground,  (Gen.  2":  7.)  Eccles.  12. 
Though  spiritual  and  eternal  death 
are  not  mentioned  here,  they  are  im- 
plied— in  all  the  shame  and  fear  and 
remorse  and  falsehood.  It  is  plain 
that  if  Adam  had  not  sinned,  he  and 
the  race,  who  had  their  trial  in  him, 
would  have  lived  forever,  (vs.  22.) 

Observe. — We  see  that  as  the 
race  was  in  Adam,  so  it  sinned  in 
him,  and  fell  with  him  in  his  first 
transgression.  It  is  not  a  condem- 
nation merely  for  Adam's  sin,  which 
we  suffer,  as  if  we  had  been  entirely 
without  implication  in  it,  but  we  are 
counted  as  having  acted  in  our  first 
father.  This  was  the  divine  consti- 
tution, and  infinitely  just  and  good. 
No  one  of  us  could  fairly  complain  of 
our  representative's  facilities  and  op- 
portunities in  this  probation  of  the 
race.  Who  shall  claim  that  he  him- 
self would  have  done  better,  or  would 
now  do  better,  standing  in  Adam's 
place,  than  Adam  did  for  him.  Some 
argue  that  the  death  denounced  as 
the  curse  of  sin  was  simply  physical 
death,  and  that  the  opposite,  namely, 
life,  undying  existence,  was  the  re- 
ward of  obedience  ;  and  that  accord- 
ingly the  wicked  are  to  be  annihilated. 
But  1,  annihilation  is  not  "everlast- 
ing punishment,"  which  the  wicked 
are  to  suffer.  It  is  rather  a  release 
from  punishment,  by  blotting  one 
out  of  existence.  It  is  the  cessation 
of  punishment  by  the  cessation  of 
existence.  2.  Life,  as  mere  existence, 
is  not  necessarily  a  reward,  for  the 
existence  may  be  miserable,  a  nd  will 
be  if  it  have  in  it  no  spiritual  life,  as 
something  higher  and  better  than  the 
physical  existence.  Hence  as  spirit- 
ual life,  in  the  likeness  and  favor  of 
God,  is  the  reward  of  obedience,  so 
spiritual  death,  in  alienation  from 
God,  is  the  fruit  of  disobedience. 


§  10.  The  Fallen  Pair  Clothed 
—Driven  from  Paradise.  Ch. 
3 :  20-24. 

20.  The  first  act  of  Adam  under 
the  curse  is  here  recorded.  Here  we 
may  look  for  the  impression  made 
upon  him  by  the  curse.  It  speaks  of 
faith  and  hope.  He  had  already 
called  his  wife's  name  Isha — "wo- 
man," (ch.  2:24,)  to  designate  her 
relation  to  man.  Now  he  calls  her 
by  a  new  name,  expressive  of  her 
new  relation  as  just  revealed  in  the 
promise.  He  calls  her  name  )-nh 
(Havah)  Eve  (Gr.  life)  and  the  rea- 
son is  assigned,  whether  by  Moses  or 
by  Adam,  probably  the  latter,  de- 
cause  she  was  the  mother  of  all  living. 
This  is  the  confession  of  Adam's 
faith  in  the  promised  seed  as  to 
come  through  Eve.  And  already 
Adam  saw  in  his  wife  the  divinely 
constituted  mother  of  the  living  seed, 
by  whom  the  victory  over  death  was 
to  be  achieved.  "  In  Him  was  life." 
"I  am  the  Life,"  "the  Resurrection 
and  the  Life,"  "  the  Bread  of  Life." 
"He  that  iiveth  (after  death  over 
death,)  and  hath  the  keys  of  hell  and 
of  death,"  (Rev.  1 :  18.)  It  was  as 
yet  only  an  indistinct  conception  of 
the  promised  seed,  but  that  Eve 
should  be  the  mother  through  whom 
should  come  the  victorious  "  seed  of 
the  woman."  She  is  the  life-mother, 
the  mother  of  all  living  ones.  The 
Pers.  and  Saad.  read,  "of  all  in- 
telligent beings."  But  rather,  of  all 
the  living  ones,  in  the  spiritual  sense. 
And  however  indistinctly  Adam  may 
as  yet  have  comprehended  this,  in  its 
fulness,  the  name  expresses  his  faith 
in  the  great  Messianic  idea,  and  it 
stands  on  record  to  be  opened  in  its 
deeper  meaning  by  the  advancing 
light  of  the  Old  Testament  gospel. 

21.  Here  is  next  recorded  the  first 
act  of  God  towards  the  fallen  pair 


128 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102 


22  ^[  And  the  Loed  God  said,  *  Behold,  the  man  is  become  as 
one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil.  And  now,  lest  he  put  forth 
his  hand,  k  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life  and  eat  and  live  for 
ever : 


i  ver.  5.     Like  Isa.  19  :  12,  and  4T :  12,  13  ;  Jer.  22,  23.    k  ch.  2 :  9. 


since  their  sentence.  The  Lord  God 
made  coats  of  skins;  literally,  gave 
coats.  The  term  means  commonly 
to  appoint,  ordain.  This  is  so  par- 
ticularly recorded  to  show  that  it  was 
by  divine  direction,  and  in  connex- 
ion with  the  events  just  narrated. 
It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the 
skins  were  those  of  animals  appoint- 
ed for  sacrifice,  and  that  such  a  cov- 
ering was  to  signify  to  them  their 
need  of  the  propitiation  which  alone 
could  cover  sin,  and  take  away  shame, 
and  which  was  to  come  by  the  death 
of  the  Lamb  of  God — the  Prince  of 
Life.  Since  the  fall,  this  blood-shed- 
ding would  be  the  only  acceptable 
mode  of  sacrifice,  involving  faith  in 
the  great  sin  offering.  So  we  find 
Abel  bringing  his  animal  offering. 
And  there  is  no  record  of  the  first  in- 
stitution of  sacrifices,  if  not  here. 
And  nowhere  would  it  be  so  natural 
as  at  this  very  point.  Here  by  this 
appointment  of  animal  sacrifices, 
they  had  a  further  intimation  than 
before  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  and 
here  they  would  get  an  idea  of  the 
necessary  and  blessed  application  of 
the  benefits  to  themselves,  by  put- 
ting on  the  skins  as  clothing  to  cover 
their  nakedness.  So  Christ  invites, 
commands  us  to  buy  of  Him  white 
raiment,  that  we  may  be  clothed, 
etc,  Rev.  3 :  18.  The  charm  of  this 
too  is  that  it  is  God's  plan.  Christ 
is  the  Lamb  of  God.  God  clothed 
them,  Isa.  61 :  10. 

23.  Lo,  the  man  has  become.  Some 
take  this  to  mean,  "  Behold,  the  man 
has  sot  himself  up  as  God."  As  the 
tempter  wickedly  suggested  that  he 
should  be  as  God,  to  know  good  and 
evil,  this  is  what  man  aimed  at, 
and  became  at  heart.  Or,  the  Lord 
God  calls  attention  to  the  condition  of 
Adam  in  the  light  of  Satan's  false 


promise.  As  though  he  had  said, 
"  Lo,  see  what  man  has  now  attain- 
ed. This  is  the  sense  in  which  the 
man  has  become  as  one  of  us — to 
know  good  and  evil."  Or  it  is  a  con- 
trast here  drawn  with  his  unfallen 
estate:  Lo,  the  man  ivas  as  one  of 
us,  to  know  good  and  evil;  and  noio 
lest,  etc.  These  are  the  commonly 
received  views  of  the  passage. 
This  verse  may  be  better  under- 
stood by  regarding  its  close  relation 
to  the  preceding.  Jehovah  had  just 
now  signified  to  the  fallen  pair  the 
method  of  His  grace,  by  vicarious 
blood-shedding, and  clothing  with  the 
victim's  skin.  And  now,  upon  this 
significant  symbolical  transaction, 
He  regards  the  man  as  having  ac- 
cepted the  proffered  atonement,  and 
as  having  thus  become  an  heir  of 
the  promises.  Behold  the  man  cloth- 
ed, and  in  his  right  mind.  He  has 
indeed,  now  by  grace,  become  what 
Satan  falsely  promised — as  God. 
"Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of 
God."  He  is  partaker  of  the  divine 
nature,"  and  has  put  on  the  new  man, 
which  is  "  renewed  in  knowledge,  after 
the  image  of  Him  that  created  him." 
Col.  3 :  10.  The  man  sees,  in  the 
slain  sacrifice,  the  expiation  promis- 
ed ;  and  in  the  clothing  of  skins,  he 
accepts  by  faith  the  sacrificial  pro- 
vision as  the  only  covering  for  his 
sins.  And  now  God,  in  His  Redemp- 
tive name,  Jehovah,  passes  upon  the 
repentant  and  believing  Adam  this 
verdict  of  acceptance. 

But  now,  in  this  new  estate,  under 
this  altered  dispensation  of  grace  in 
Christ  Jesus,  it  is  no  longer  allowed 
to  man  to  take  the  sacrament  ap- 
pointed under  the  economy  of  works. 
"  Lest  he  put  forth  his  hand  and,  take 
of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat  and  live  for 
ever  ;"  lest  he  seek  to  live  any  more 


B.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  III. 


129 


23  Therefore  the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of 
Eden,  1  to  till  the  ground  from  whence  he  was  taken. 


1  ch.  4 :  2,  and  9  :  20. 


by  the  works  of  the  law,  instead  of 
by  the  hearing  of  faith ;  therefore, 
lie  must  be  put  forth  from  that  nat- 
ural garden  of  Eden,  so  as  to  attain 
by  grace  through  faith  to  the  spirit- 
ual paradise  of  God  above,  (Rev. 
2  :  7.)  Thus  the  man  would  be  shut 
up  unto  the  faith — excluded  from  a 
system  of  salvation  by  works,  and 
made  to  feel  his  entire  dependence 
on  Him  who  is  "  the  Way  and  the 
Truth  and  the  Life."  But  this  is 
the  man  Adam  in  his  individual 
character,  and  no  longer  in  his  rep- 
resentative capacity.  Yet  all  by  the 
like  faith  may  live.  (See  Dr.  Cancl- 
lish  and  McDonald.)  This  view  will 
be  more  apparent  if  we  consider,  1. 
The  connexion  in  which  this  lan- 
guage is  spoken,  not  immediately 
after  the  fall,  and  as  a  part  of  the 
sentence,  but  immediately  after  the 
clothing  of  skins,  and  as  part  of 
the  fruits  of  redemption.  2.  It  re- 
fers to  the  man  in  his  individual  ca- 
pacity, and  not  to  the  race.  3.  It  is 
followed  by  an  exclusion  from  the 
seal  of  the  covenant  of  works,  which 
is  now  supplanted  by  the  covenant 
of  grace.  4.  It  occurs  after  Adam 
gave  the  name  to  Eve,  which  signi- 
fied his  faith,  calling  her  the  mother 
of  all  living.  5.  It  is  said,  He  is  be- 
come as  one  of  us.  Here  is  the  coun- 
cil of  grace  at  the  new  creation,  as  at 
the  old  creation,  ch.  1,  bringing  to 
view  the  different  persons  in  the 
Godhead.  And  here  the  man  is  said 
to  have  become  as  one  of  us.  A'ilng 
understands  that  this  refers  to  the 
second  person  of  the  Godhead  and 
hints  of  the  God-man,  and  of  the  like- 
ness to  Christ. 

It  was  therefore  a  most  gracious 
and  merciful  procedure  on  the  part 
of  God  to  drive  our  first  parents  from 
the  garden  of  Eden,  to  place  them 
beyond  the  reach  and  even  the  sight 
of  the  tree  of  life,  that  they  might 
therefore  feel  how  helpless  and  hope- 

6* 


less  was  their  condition,  except  for 
the  promise  of  the  Saviour ;  that  they 
might  be  shut  up  to  a  simple  reli- 
ance on  Him  as  the  only  way  to  re- 
cover the  life  they  had  forfeited,  and 
thus  look  longingly  for  the  promised 
seed  of  the  woman.  See  Gordon. 
As  Adam  had  forfeited  the  life  of 
which  this  tree  of  life  was  the  sign, 
he  had  forfeited  all  right  to  the  sa- 
cramental partaking  of  it,  and  was 
therefore  justly  excommunicated 
from  the  paradise.  The  Divine  ap- 
pointment had  been  that  life  immor- 
tal was  to  be  enjoyed  in  connexion 
with  the  partaking  of  this  tree  as 
the  symbol  and  sacramental  seal  of 
the  covenant :  and  here  is  simply 
God's  declaration  that  this  covenant 
has  been  broken  by  man,  and  this 
constitution  is  to  be  broken  up.  The 
church  in  Paradise  is  no  more.  It 
was  not  the  mere  eating  of  that  tree 
that  could  give  immortal  life,  for  it 
had  been  partaken  by  them,  and  yet 
death  had  ensued  by  sin.  God  would 
also  now  exclude  man  from  that 
which  might  be  a  vain  confidence  to 
him,  and  a  delusive  hope  in  the  out- 
ward sign. 

23.  Therefore.  To  abolish  that 
original  constitution,  and  to  declare 
the  covenant  of  works  void  by  the 
fall  of  man,  the  Lord.  God  cast  him 
out — sent  him  forth  from  the  garden 
of  Eden — {drove  him  out,  vs.  24,)  by 
force  —  however  reluctantly  they 
might  leave  it — to  till  the  ground. 
This  was  the  Divine  appointment, 
that  instead  of  tilling  the  rich  and 
fertile  garden  of  Paradise,  he  should 
by  hard  labor  till  the  ground  out- 
side of  the  garden  —  the  outside 
ground,  or  region  where  he  had  been 
created,  and  from  whence  he  was 
taken  to  be  placed  in  Paradise.  Ob- 
serve.— (1.)  There  was  mercy  even 
in  this  expulsion  from  the  ga^dea; 
tor  living  forever  now  in  this  taiien 
estate  of  sin  and  misery  would  hard 


130 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102 


24  So  be  drove  out  the  man  :  and  lie  placed  m  at  the  east  of 
the  garden  of  Eden  n  cherubims,  and  a  flaming  sword  which 
turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life. 


:  3.     n  Ps.  104 :  1 ;  Heb.  1  ;  T. 


been  only  the  curse  of  Cain  infinitely 
prolonged,  (cli.  4 :  15, 16.)  (2.)  Though, 
the  falien  pair  were  driven  out  from 
the  garden,  they  were  driven  out 
clothed — provided  with  the  clothing 
which  God  gave  them,  as  symbolical 
oi"  a  vicarious  righteousness. 

24.  So,  etc.  The  act  of  expulsion 
is  here  repeated.  %  The  cherubim — 
(and  lie  placed,  lit.,  caused  to  dwell  the 
cherubim,  and  the  flaming  sword  un- 
folding itself  to  keep  the  way  of  the 
tree  of  life.)  This  word  is  found  nine- 
ty-one times  in  the  Old  Testament, 
chiefly  in  the  plural,  more  rarely  in 
the  singidar.  Here  it  is  the  cherubim 
as  something  already  known,  though 
the  word  first  occurs  here.  The  use 
of  the  term  symbolically  would  im- 
ply the  existence  of  the  real  crea- 
tures ;  either  as  a  complex  person, 
or  perhaps  only  in  the  constituent 
animal  types  named.  From  the  use 
of  the  verb  shakan,  conveying  the 
idea  of  shekinah,  as  the  visible  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  presence,  we 
understand  that  the  place  of  divine 
worship  was  shifted  from  within 
the  garden  to  the  outside.  But 
though  outside,  it  was  at  the  gate. 
Here  they  appear  as  mediating  be- 
tween the  tables  of  the  law  enclosed 
in  the  ark  and  the  shekinah,  or  visible 
presence  of  God  enthroned  above 
their  folded  wings.  This  would 
seem  therefore  to  have  been  here  a 
symbol  of  the  Divine  human  pres- 
ence. These  may  have  been  living 
creatures,  or  glorious  symbolical 
forms.  To  Ezekiel  they  appeared 
only  in  vision.  As  regards  their 
form,  they  were  the  combination  of 
the  highest  orders  and  offices  of  life 
in  the  creation.  The  four  living 
creatures  in  a  complex  person — the 
lion,  the  ox,  the  eagle,  and  the  man 
in  one,  (Ezek.  1 :  10,)  as  types  of  the 
highest  animated  beings,  seem  to 
have  symbolized   the   Divine   attri- 


butes or  the  most  exalted  agenciea 
in  combination  with  humanity.  In 
this  wondrous,  complex  Person,  there- 
fore, would  be  dimly  shadowed  forth 
the  God-man — "  the  Lion  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah."  So  in  the  temple  God 
had  His  seat  between  the  cherubim. 
His  visible  presence  in  a  cloud  was 
seated  on  their  wings  over  the  mer- 
cy-seat. So  God  was  there  at  the 
gate  of  Eden  to  commune  with  fall- 
en man  from  between  the  cherubim, 
the  symbols  of  His  incarnate  pres- 
ence. The  human  face,  among  those 
features  of  most  exalted  attributes, 
would  be  a  symbolic  representation 
to  man  of  the  glorious  coining  One, 
and  of  the  glory  to  which  man  should 
attain  through  Him.  In  the  visions 
of  John  we  find  a  further  develop- 
ment of  the  idea  belonging  to  these 
same  cherubic  forms.  The  four  liv- 
ing creatures,  unhappily  rendered, 
'"  the  four  beasts,"  appear  in  the  heav- 
enly state  as  prominent  in  the  wor- 
ship, and  associated  with  the  four 
and  twenty  elders.  They  are  dis- 
tinct from  the  angels,  and  they  seem, 
along  with  the  elders,  to  represent 
that  highest  style  of  life  to  which 
the  redeemed  church  attains  in 
glory,  as  one  with  Christ,  Rev.  5 :  6- 
14;  7:11;  14;  3.  See  also  Exod. 
25:18;  26:1, 31.  Num.  7:89.  Ps. 
80:1;  99:1;  18:10.  Ezek.  1:5; 
10  :  2.  1  Kings  6  :  23,  29,  35.  It  is 
now  established  that  composite  ani- 
mal forms,  such  as  the  cherubim  of 
Scripture,  and  what  was  probably  a 
traditional  imitation  of  them — the 
winged  human-headed  lions  and 
bulls  of  Nineveh,  and  the  sphinxes 
of  Egypt,  were  intended  to  repre- 
sent beings,  or  a  state  of  being,  in 
which  were  concentrated  all  the  .  - 
culiar  qualities  and  excellencies 
which  distinguished  the  creatures 
entering  into  the  combination. — 
McDonald.  Creation  and  Fall,  p.  474. 


13.  C.  4102.] 


CHAPTER  IV. 
CHAPTER    IV 


131 


A  ND  Adam  knew  Eve  his  wife ;   and  she  conceived,  and  bare 
jLL   Cain,  and  said,  I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord. 


Accompanying  this  composite  being 
or  symbolic  form  was  the  flame  of  a 
sword  turning  itself  about — the  flash- 
ing of  a  brandished  sword — symbolic 
of  the  Divine  law ;   "  the  sword  of 
the    Spirit,   which   is   the   word    of 
God,"  actively  operating  as  it  was 
flashed  and  brandished  in  connexion 
with  this  complex,  personal  cheru- 
bic form.     This  whole  fignre  would 
represent  therefore  the  personal  word 
along  with  the  written  icord,  the  law 
along  with  the  gospel.     Mercy  and 
truth    met    together,   righteousness 
and  peace   kissing  each  other,  and 
operating  in  perfect  harmony,  to  keep 
the  icay  of  the  tree  of  life.     The  way 
of  life  was  hitherto  represented  by  ; 
the  tree  of  life,  as  the  seal  of  the  cov-  j 
enant  of  works.    That  covenant  hav-  I 
ing  been  broken  by  man,  he  is  thrust 
out  from  the  application  of  this  seal,  j 
and  here  he  sees  access  to  it  debar- 
red by  this  glorious  cherubic  form, 
accompanied  with  a  flaming  sword. 
This,  however,  was  not  only  judicial, 
but  merciful.     This  was  God's  decla- 
ration,  that  "  the  way  of  the  tree  of 
life  "  should  be  guarded  and  preserv-  j 
ed,  not  forever  to  be  kept//w7i  man, 
but  to  be  kept  also  for  man  under 
the  guard  of  the  highest  offices,  and  \ 
most  exalted  life.     This  conquering  : 
"  seed  of  the  woman  "  is  found  open-  ; 
ing  it  again  to  man,  and  excluding 
from  it  "  whosoever  loveth  and  mak- 
eth  a  lie,"  Rev.  22  :  14,  15.     Accord-  | 
ingly,  we  find  the  "  inheritance  in-  j 
corruptible   and  undefiled,   reserved  i 
(preserved)  in  heaven  for  us  who  are 
kept  (as  with  a  military  guard)  by 
the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto 
salvation,  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the 
last  time,"  (1  Pet.  1 : 5.)     And  so  we 
find  the  tree  of  life  again  exhibited 
in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God, 
(Rev.  2:7;  22  :  2.)    "  And  there  shall 
be  no  more  curse."     "  To  him  that 
overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the 


tree  of  life."  "  Blessed  are  they  that 
do  His  commandments,  that  they 
mav  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life," 
Rev.  22:14. 

Observe. — 1.  There  is  no  hint  in 
this  only  primitive  history  of  our 
race,  that  different  portions  of  the 
human  family  proceeded  from  differ- 
ent pairs  of  progenitors,  but  there  is 
all  along  the  clearest  presumption  of 
only  a  single  pair — Adam  and  Eve, 
from  whom  all  mankind  have  de- 
scended. 

2.  The  church  of  God  already  exist- 
ed in  the  family  of  Adam,  and  pub- 
lic worship  was  required  and  per- 
formed at  an  appointed  place,  and 
with  appointed  observances. 

3.  It  is  plain  from  the  record  that 
Adam  was  constituted  the  covenant 
head  of  the  human  family,  and  by 
this  Divine  arrangement,  acted  under 
that  covenant  for  his  posterity  also. 
And  this  is  the  more  fitting,  from  the 
fact  that  he  was  the  natural  head  of 
the  race,  and  that  they  were  in  him, 
as  being  in  his  loins.  This  judicial 
constitution  was  not  arbitrary,  but 
had  its  basis  in  the  natural  constitu- 
tion, which  was  itself  according  to 
the  sovereign  plan  of  God. 

4.  The  fall  of  man  had  been  eter- 
nally foreknown  to  God,  and  the 
provision  for  his  redemption  had 
been  made  from  eternity,  (Eph.  1 :  4,) 
Therefore  God  created  man  in  order 
to  display  all  His  moral  attributes, 
and  to  show  His  grace  and  truth  in 
the  second  Adam. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

§  17.  The  two  Classes  of  Men 
— Cain  and  Abel  —  Sacrifice 
and  Murder.    Ch.  4  :  1-16. 

Here  occurs  the  history  of  two 
sons  of  Adam.  Each  representing  a 
class  of  men  ever  since  in  the  world. 


132 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102 


2  And  she  again  bare  his   brother  Abel.     And  Abel  was  a 
keeper  of  sheep,  but  Cain  was  a  a  tiller  of  the  ground. 

a  ch.  3  :  23 ;  9  :  20. 


Two  opposite  principles  and  tenden- 
cies are  here  exhibited  at  the  out- 
set of  our  fallen  history.  The  ques- 
tion is  still,  as  at  the  Fall,  between 
faith  and  self-sufficiency — God's  plan 
or  man's. 

1.  The  birth  of  Cain  and  Abel 
probably  occurred  soon  after  the 
Fall.  These  births  have  their  high- 
est importance  from  the  promise  of 
'the  woman's  seed,"  who  was  to 
conquer  the  serpent.  This  is  the 
iirst  step  in  that  lineal  descent  by 
which  Christ  was  to  come.  All  the 
genealogies,  henceforth  so  minutely 
recorded,  are  important  as  tracing 
the  lineage  of  Christ.  The  whole  Old 
Testament  history  is  but  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  history  of  the  Incarnation 
of  the  Son  of  God.  Luke,  therefore, 
traces  the  genealogy  of  Jesus  up  to 
Adam,  (Luke,  ch.  1.)  All  the  hopes 
of  the  first  pair  being  now  based 
upon  their  promised  seed,  it  could 
scarcely  be  wondered  at  that  Eve 
regards  the  birth  of  her  first-born  in 
this  light.  The  name  Cain  indicates 
this,  meaning  possession.  And  this, 
in  connexion  with  her  remark  at  his 
birth,  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  joyful 
"Eureka"  of  this  first  mother  over 
her  first  born.  ^[  I  have  gotten  (pos- 
sess,) a  man  Jehovah.  The  name 
"  Jehovah,"  as  we  have  seen,  is  the 
redemptive  name  of  God — that  in 
which  He  displays  Himself  as  the 
Coming  One — He  who  shall  be.  And 
here  Eve,  the  life-mother,  says,  "  I 
have  gotten  a  man,  the  Coming 
One," — "the  seed  of  the  woman" 
promised  as  the  Deliverer.  This 
was  her  natural  confidence  that  she 
had,  in  the  person  of  this  male  first 
born,  acquired  the  object  of  her 
faith  and  hope.  So  Ps.  Jon  reads, 
"  I  have  gotten  a  man,  the  angel  of 
Jehovah,"  Syr.,  A  man  Jehovah. 
Others  read  it,  a  man  from  or  icilh 
Jehovah.     So  Keil.    The  Heb.  parti- 


cle before  "  Jehovah  "  is  the 
before  "  Cain"  and  is  the  sign  of  the 
objective  case.  It  is  objected  by 
Dathe  that  if  she  knew  that  the 
Messiah  must  be  Jehovah,  how  could 
she  think  that  Cain  was  the  Messiah, 
when  she  knew  him  to  be  the  off- 
spring of  Adam."  But  it  was  as  the 
seed  of  the  woman  that  she  looked 
for  the  glorious  Coming  One — and 
here  is  the  first  instance  in  which 
the  name  "  Jehovah  "  is  used  alone 
by  any  of  that  time.  Moses  first 
uses  it  in  the  history  in  connexion 
with  Elohim  in  ch.  2:4.  As  Eve 
here  first  used  the  name  she  meant 
only  the  Coming  One,  who  was  to  be 
the  woman's  seed,  without  under- 
standing the  name  as  Moses  did,  and 
as  we  now  do,  in  its  application  to 
God  alone.  But  God,  it  would 
appear  afterwards,  was  graciously 
pleased  to  apply  the  name  to  Him- 
self— the  name  by  which  the  com- 
ing Deliverer  had  been  previously 
known — thus  further  disclosing  the 
great  truth  that  the  conqueror  of  the 
serpent  would  be  a  Divine  Person- 
age, and  no  ordinary  descendant  of 
Adam.  God  would  then  be  known 
not  only  as  Elohim,  but  as  Jehovah- 
Eiohim — the  Redeemer  God.  "  Then, 
also,  men  began  (in  the  days  of 
Enos,)  to  call  upon  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah." 

2.  And  she  again  bare.  Lit.,  And 
she  added  to  bear  his  brother  Abel. 
It  is  commonly  inferred  from  the 
phraseology  here  that  these  were 
twins.  The  name  Abel  is  significant 
also,  meaning  vanity.  It  may  be 
supposed,  however,  with  Kurtz,  that 
she  soon  became  aware  of  her  error, 
and  called  her  second  son  Abel — 
"  vanity,"  on  this  account.  Or  the 
name  may  have  been  Divinely  or- 
dered as  an  incidental  prediction  of 
the  vanity  of  her  fond  maternal 
hopes,  as  to  be  developed  in  the  his 


B.  C  3975.] 


CHAPTER  IV. 


133 

brought 


3  And  in  process  of  time  it  came  to  pass,  that  Cain 
b  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  unto  the  Lord. 

4-  And  Abel,  lie  also  brought  of  c  the  firstlings  of  his  Sock, 
and  of  the  fat  thereof.  And  the  Lokd  had  d  respect  unto  Abel, 
and  to  his  offering : 


b  Num.  18  :  12.     c  Num.  IS  :  17  ;  Prov.  3 


d  lleb.  11  :  4. 


toiy.  Others  think  the  name  was 
suggested  by  her  sense  of  their  fall- 
en condition,  and  of  the  misery  she 
had  entailed  upon  her  offspring. 
^[  Keeper  of  sheep.  Lit.,  feeder  of  a 
flock — (sheep  and  goats.)  The  re- 
spective occupations  of  these  brothers 
in  after  life  are  now  mentioned,  as 
bearing  on  the  after  history.  The 
race  was  not  first  in  a  savage  state, 
and  only  afterwards  gradually  civil- 
ized. They  were  first  in  this  state 
of  civilization  in  which  such  dis- 
tinct and  honorable  callings  are 
pursued.  The  first  occupation  by 
which  the  godly  man  is  here  distin- 
guished from  the  ungodly,  is  that  of 
a  shepherd.  Who  can  fail  to  think 
of  "  the  Good  Shepherd,"  as  already 
typifying  Himself  in  history.  His 
calling  seems  to  have  had  an  effect 
in  shaping  his  conduct.  Cain  was  a 
" tiller  of  the  ground" — a  husband- 
man. It  was  no  fault  of  his  occupa- 
tion that  Cain  took  so  opposite  a 
course  from  Abel. 

3.  In  process  of  time.  Lit.,  at  the 
end  of  the  days.  It  is  doubted 
whether  this  refers  to  the  end  of  the 
week  or  of  the  year — to  the  Sabbath, 
or  to  the  time  of  ingathering.  More 
likely  this  phrase  denotes  the  Sab- 
bath— which  was  then  the  seventh 
day — the  end  of  the  week  days.  And 
as  it  is  plain  that  the  Sabbath  was 
observed  as  holy  time  since  its  for- 
mal institution  by  God  in  Paradise, 
it  was  doubtless  kept  holy  by  such 
appointments  of  worship  as  would 
distinguish  the  day.  All  the  nations 
of  antiquity  have  agreed  without 
exception,  in  the  use  of  sacrifices  as 
a  mode  of  worship.  And  it  is  clearly 
traceable  to  this  original  appoint- 
ment of  God.  It  continued  four 
thousand  years  to  be  the  chief  cen- 
0* 


|  tral  feature  of  all  Divine  worship. 

I  It  was  the  problem  of  ages,  the  full 
solution  of  which  was  not  reached 
till  its  goal  was  attained  in  the  ful- 
ness of  the  time,  on  Calvary.  *j[  Cain 
brought.  There  was  a  vital  differ- 
ence in  the  material  of  these  offer- 
ings as  presented  by  Cain  and  Abel. 
Here  was  already  the  very  distinc- 
tion afterwards  made  in  the  Levit- 
ical  service.  The  bloody  sacrifice 
had  always  in  it  the  idea  of  death, 
as  the  desert  of  sin — and  this  pro- 
vision of  an  animal  as  a  substitute, 
carried  with  it  the  idea  of  a  vica- 
rious death,  as  required  for  atone- 
ment. But  there  was,  also,  an  offer- 
ing, or  oblations,(lit.  minhhah,)  which 
was  unbloody — made  of  flour  or 
meal,  and  called  meat  offering, 
though  properly  a  meal  offering. 
This  was  usually  a  thank  offering — 
and  was  also  appointed  to  be  offered 
along  with  bloody  offerings.  Cain 
would  naturally  enough  bring  this 
kind  if  he  had  had  no  direction. 
But  in  the  nature  of  the  case  it  is 
plain  that  the  animal  sacrifice  was 
appointed  by  God  as  indispensable — 
whether  with  or  without  the  other. 
So  we  find  it  in  the  Law  afterwards, 
(Levit.  2  : 1,  4,  7.)  Here  is  the  blood 
of  "  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world,"  (Rev.  13:8. 

4.  Accordingly  we  find  Abel  bring- 
ing a  bloody  sacrifice.  This  was  his 
confession  of  faith — that  "  without 
shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission." 
His  faith  led  him  to  bring  this  kind 
of  offering — and  his  faith  accompa- 
nying the  act  also,  made  the  offering 
acceptable.     So  Paul  declares,  (Heb. 

II  :  3,  4,)  "  By  frith  Abel  offered  unto 
God  a  more  acceptable  (lit.,  a  fuller) 
sacrifice  {more  of  a  sacrifice)  than 
Cain."     *fi  Of  the  firstlings.      The 


<34 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  3975 


5  But  unto  Cain,  and  to  his  offering,  he  had  not  respect.    And 
Cain  was  very  wroth,  e  and  his  countenance  fell. 

6  And  the  Loud  said  unto  Cain,  Why  art  thou   wroth  ?    and 
why  is  thy  countenance  fallen? 

e  ch.  31  :  2. 


first-born  and  unblemished — first  and 
best.  This  is  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Divine  command  and  runs  through 
the  law  of  Moses,  (Exod.  13  :  12  ; 
Dent.  12  :  6.)  «|  And  the  fat.  The 
cream  of  the  matter  God  claims — 
lit,,  the  fatness  of  them.  In  the  law 
it  was  "  the  fat  of  the  inwards," — 
representing  the  best  affections,  Es- 
odus  29  :  13.  It  would  seem  alto- 
gether probable  that  these  offerings 
were  presented  before  the  cherubic 
form  at  the  gate  of  Eden, — and  that 
this  was  "  the  presence  of  the  Lord  " 
from  which  Cain  afterwards  "  went 
out,"  (vs.  16.)  It  is  also  probable 
that  these  brothers  had  been  used  to 
bring  their  offerings,  as  divinely  ap- 
pointed ;  but  that  now  Cain  departs 
from  the  prescribed  method  and 
from  his  own  custom — and  acts  the 
apostate — unless  we  understand  that 
this  was  their  first  offering — at  ma- 
ture age.  Cain  incurred,  also,  special 
guilt  as  being  the  eldest — the  first- 
born son.  Observe. — Here  already 
in  the  second  generation  we  find  divi- 
sion of  labor,  and  the  rights  of  per- 
sonal property.  *j[  Had  respect.  Lit,, 
looked  to — approvingly.  (Ar.,  accept- 
ed.) Paul  declares  that  God  testified 
of  Ids  (Abel's)  gifts,  (offerings,)  Heb. 
11:4.  How  this  testimony  was  given 
we  do  not  know.  In  other  cases  it 
was  by  fire  from  heaven  sent  down 
to  consume  the  offering,  (1  Kings 
18  :  38.)  So  it  may  have  been  here. 
By  means  of  it,  his  sacrifice,  offered 
in  faith,  Abel  obtained  witness  (was 
witnessed  to,)  that  he  was  righteous, 
(j  ustified,)  Heb.  11:4.  It  is  the  faith 
of  Abel  that  Paul  celebrates.  And 
the  faith  was  a  faith  in  that  which 
the  sacrifice  set  forth — a  faith  in  the 
vicarious  sacrifice  that  was  repre- 
sented there  as  indispensable  for  rec- 
oncilation    of    God    and    man.      It 


|  seems  most  probable  that  the  flame 
from  the  Shekinah  may  have  darted 
out  so  as  to  consume  the  offering  of 
Abel — signifying  that  the  justice  of 
God  was  satisfied  in  that  which  the 
bloody  offering  symbolized. 

5.  But  unto  Cain,  etc.  This  ele- 
ment of  blood-shedding  was  that 
which  Cain's  sacrifice  lacked,  and  his 
choice  of  such  a  bloodless  offering, 
against  the  Divine  requirement,  was 

|  his  open  profession  that  blood-shed- 
ding was  not  requisite,  at  least  for 
him.  Of  course  he  lacked  the  faith 
in  the  coming  sacrifice,  which  was 
indispensable  to  righteousness.  He 
professed  no  sense  of  sin's  deadly 
nature  and  deserts,  and  no  faith  in 
the  Divine  provision  as  the  only 
mode  of  reconciliation.      He  set  up 

I  his  own  plan  against  God's — his  own 
reason  against  faith — and,  of  course, 

i  he  found  no  room  in  his  system  for 

!  the  gospel  of  the  Old  Testament. 
It  was  not  that  Cain's  sacrifice  was 
less  costly  than  Abel's  that  it  was 

1  incomplete — but  that  it  lacked  the 

|  essential  element  of  faith — both  as 

j  to  the  matter  and  as  to  the  manner. 

|  ^F  Very  wroth.  Lit,,  It  was  kindled 
to  Cain.  As  we  say — his  anger  was 
kindled.      He    was    angry    against 

j  God  and  against  his  brother,  as  the 
friend  of  God.  "  Thus  Cain,  the 
first-born  of  the  fall,  exhibits  the 
first  fruits  of  his  parent's  disobedi- 

i  ence  in  the  arrogancy  and  self-suffi- 
ciency of  reason  rejecting  the  aids 
of  revelation,  because  they  fall  not 
in  with  its  apprehension  of  right." — 
Magee.     And  from  this  proud  rejec- 

<  tion  of  the  Divine  provision,  he  went 

I  on  to  harbor  enmity  and  malice, 
leading  to  revenge  and  murder. 
"  Of.  sin  because  they  believe  not  on 
me,"  (John  16  :  9.)  *  ^  His  counte- 
nance fell.    He  be'eame  morose  and 


B.  C  3975.1 


CHAPTER  IV 


135 


7  If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not  be  accepted?  and  if  thou 
doest  not  well,  sin  lieth  fit  the  door.  And  unto  thee  shall  be  his 
desire,  and  thou  shalt  rule  over  him. 


surly  in  his  expression,  carrying  in 
his  very  face  the  ill-humor  that  was 
rankling  in  his  bosom. 

6.  Jehovah,  though  well  knowing 
the  evil  spirit  in  Cain's  bosom,  stoops 
to  expostulate  with  him — most  ten- 
derly urging  upon  the  poor,  soured 
spirit,  the  only  provision — and  press- 
ing the  grace  upon  his  acceptance  as 
though  it  were  a  merchant  urging 
his  wares.  "  I  counsel  thee  to  buy 
of  me." 

7.  The  Divine  expostulation  refers 
to  the  unreasonableness  of  his  anger 
— and  sets  forth  the  case  in  its  true 
light.  c[  If  thou  doest  well.  Lit., 
If  thou  shalt  do  good — is  there  not 
lifting  up — acceptance — the  same  as 
with  Abel,  or,  the  excellency,  (i.  e.,  the 
birthright  above  Abel  which  Cain 
had  by  birth  as  the  eider,  but  which 
he  felt  that  he  had  now  lost,) — and 
if  thou  shalt  not  do  good,  sin  {a  sin 
offering)  is  crouching  at  the  gate.  As 
much  as  to  say,  the  great  principle 
of  the  Divine  administration  is  holy, 
and  j  List,  and  good.  There  is  accept- 
ance to  the  well  doer,  or,  as  between 
yourselves,  birth-right  privilege  to 
you.  If  you  will  stand  upon  your 
own  merit,  as  you  propose,  in  reject- 
ing the  sin  offering — then  do  good 
and  live — keep  the  law  and  stand  if 
you  can,  upon  your  spotless  inno- 
cence, (Rom.  10  :  5.)  But  if  thou 
shalt  not  do  good  (this  is  the  law,)  a 
sin  offering  is  crouching  at  the  gate— 
at  the  gate  of  Eden — the  sanctuary 
— in  presence  of  the  Shekinah  there 
is  the  provision  for  a  sacrificial  offer- 
ing. The  verbs  here  are  in  the 
future — the  form  for  the  declaration 
of  the  lavv\  The  meaning  of  the 
latter  clause  is,  that  if  Cain  would 
own  himself  to  be  a  sinner,  and 
stand  on  the  plan  of  grace,  there  was 
a  provision  in  the  animal  sacrifice 
for  that  very  purpose,  testifying  of 
the  desert  of  sin,  and  of  the  need  of 
blood-shedding     for     reconciliation. 


To  understand  it  as  some  do,  "  If 
thou  doest  not  well,  sin  lieth  at  the 
door," — is  nearly,  if  not  quite  a  tau- 
tology. "  If  thou  sinnest,  sin  is 
chargeable  against  you."  The  term 
here  used  (hattach,)  is  the  Levitical 
term  for  sin  offering,  and  so,  also, 
Hos.  4  :  8,  and  in  the  New  Testament 
the  term  "  sin  "  is  sometimes  so  used, 
2  Cor.  5  :  21  ;  Heb.  9  :  28.  The  term 
rendered  "  lieth "  is  more  properly 
rendered  "  croucheth,"  and  is  used  of 
animals  lying  down,  and  the  partici- 
ple here  in  the  masculine  belongs  to 
the  animal  referred  to  by  the  femi- 
nine noun,  according  to  the  Hebrew 
custom.  Whereas  in  places  where 
the  noun  is  used  to  mean  sin,  the 
verbal  form  is  in  the  feminine,  di- 
rectly agreeing  with  it.  The  nature 
of  the  transaction  is  fully  set  forth 
by  Paul  in  the  Hebrews,  (ch.  11  :  4.) 
It  was  by  faith  that  Abel  offered  a 
more  acceptable  sacrifice  (a  fuller, 
more  complete  sacrifice,)  than  Cain. 
Faith  led  him  to  bring  a  bloody 
sacrifice — as  a  sacram  sntal  memorial 
of  the  blood-shedding  to  come — and 
faith  in  that  which  his  offering  sym- 
bolized made  it  acceptable  to  God — 
"for  without  faith  it  is  impossible 
to  please  Him,"  (Heb.  11  :  6,)  and 
"  -whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin," 
(Rom.  14  :  23.)  ^[  And  unto  thee,  etc. 
This  clause  evidently  refers  to  the 
ill-feeling  of  Cain  against  his  brother 
— on  account  of  Abel's  acceptance  in 
preference  to  himself.  And  in  an- 
swer to  the  inquiry  about  the  cause 
of  his  anger,  it  suggests  this  relief 
from  the  difficulty.  By  the  sin-offer- 
ing provided,  you  may  be  restored 
to  your  forfeited  birthright  relation, 
and  thus  his  desire  shall  be  unto  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  rule  over  him.  This 
language  "his  desire  shall  be  unto 
thee,"  expresses  subjection  and  de- 
pendence, and  as  we  have  seen,  (sea 
notes,  3  :  16,)  it  might  be  paraphrased, 
He  shall  look  up  to  thee,  as  his  head, 


136 


GENESIS. 


fB.  C.  3975 


8  And  Cain  talked  with  Abel  his  brother ;  and  it  came  to  pass 
when  they  were  in  the  field,  that  Cain  rose  up  against  Abel  his 
brother,  and  f  slew  him. 


f  Matt.  23  :  35 ;  1  John  3  :  12  ;  Judo  11. 


etc.  The  sense  given  to  this  passage 
by  many  is,  "  If  thou  doest  not  well, 
sin  is  crouching  (lion-like  is  lurking) 
at  the  door— and  to  thee  is  its  (his) 
desire,  (i.  e.,  it  (he)  wishes  to  over- 
come you,  1  Peter  5  :  8,)  but  thou 
shouldst  overcome  it."  See  Magee, 
on  the  Atonement,  No.  65,  p.  384. 
The  Septuagint  reads  it,  "  Though 
you  may  have  rightly  offered,  yet, 
if  you  have  not  rightly  divided,  have 
you  not  sinned?  Be  at  rest.  To 
you  shall  he  submit  himself,  and  you 
shall  rule  over  him."  Some  under- 
stand the  passage  as  explanatory  of 
the  foregoing  transaction.  Others 
understand  it  as  pointing  Cain  to  the 
provision  yet  within  his  reach.  But 
the  former  may  include  also  the  lat- 
ter. Gandlish  understands  the  allu- 
sion to  Adam's  relation  to  Eve,  (Gen. 
3  :  16,)  as  expressed  in  the  clause, 
"Unto  thee  shall  be  his  desire," 
thus,  namely,  that  like  the  hus- 
band's command  over  the  wife  is  the 
believer's  command  over  sin.  It 
shall  no  longer  have  dominion  over 
you,  but  shall  be  in  subjection— as 
Eve  to  Adam.— (Vol.  I.,  p.  140,  note.) 
Dr.  Murphy,  in  his  recent  commen- 
tary, understands  this  to  be  all  in 
the  tone  of  warning,  "  Sin  lieth  at 
the  door," — sin  past  in  its  guilt — sin 
present  in  its  despair — and  above  all, 
sin  future  as  the  growing  habit  of  a 
soul  that  persists  in  an  evil  temper, 
and  goes  on  from  worse  to  worse. 
So  that  sin  is  represented  as  await- 
ing him  at  the  door  like  a  crouching 
slave  to  do  the  bidding  of  his  mas- 
ter. "And  unto  thee  shall  be  his 
desire,"  etc.,  would  then  mean,  the 
entire  submission  and  service  of  sin 
will  be  yielded  to  thee  as  thy  wil- 
ling slave.  Or,  if  the  reference  be 
to  Abel,  then  he  understands  it — his 
(Abel's)  desire  and  forced  compliance 
will  be  yielded  unto  thee,  and  thou 


wilt  rule  over  him  with  a  rigor  and 
a  violence  that  will  terminate  in  his 
murder.  But  this  would  confound 
the  mastery  of  sin  with  the  slavery 
of  sin,  and  is  based  on  a  misun- 
derstanding of  the  passage,  ch. 
3  :  16.  (See  Notes.)  Kcil  under- 
stands it  that  the  allusion  is  to  the 
serpent.  Sin  is  here  personified 
as  a  crouching  animal  seeking  to  de- 
vour, (a  roaring  lion,  crouching  at 
his  door,)  1  Peter  5 :  8.  But  by 
restraining  his  wrath,  sin  should  be 
brought  into  subjection,  and  he 
should  get  the  mastery  of  the  mon- 
ster. 

8.  And  Gain  talked,,  etc.  Lit.,  And 
Cain  said  to  Abel.  It  is  not  the 
common  phrase  of  speaking  (V,) 
to  any  one,  as  next  clause,  vs.  9,  vs. 
13,  ch.  3  :  14.  The  preposition  here 
(^>»)  conveys  the  idea  of  against. 
What  he  said  is*  not  here  recorded. 
Some  have  understood  it  as  denoting 
a  general  fraternal  talk.  Other?, 
that  he  told  Abel  what  God  had 
said — ("  said  it  to  Abel.")  Others 
supply  certain  words  as,  "  Let  us  go 
into  the  fields,"  which  is  mere  con- 
jecture. The  record  is  brief,  and  it 
matters  not  what  he  said.  The 
omision  would  seem  to  be  designed 
to  point  attention  to  what  he  did, 
viz.,  that  he  entered  into  conversa- 
tion with  his  brother,  against  whom 
he  felt  such  enmity,  and  the  idea  is 
conveyed  by  this  brief  record,  that 
what  he  said  led  on  to  slaying  his 
brother.  See  1  John  3  :  12  ;  2  Sam. 
20  : 9,  10.  ^[  And  it  came  to  pass 
when  they  were  in  the  field.  Most 
suppose  that  Cain  had  feigned  kind 
feeling,  to  put  Abel  off  his  guard  till 
a  convenient  time  and  place  should 
occur  for  the  murder.  But  it  would 
seem  that  he  spake  reprovingly,  (see 
below.)     The  root  of  his  enmity  was 


B.  C.  3975.] 


CHAPTER  IV. 


13? 


9  *[  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Cain,  S  Where  is  Abel  thy 
brother  ?  And  he  said,  h  I  know  not :  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  ? 

10  And  he  said,  What  hast  thou  done?  the  voice  of  thy 
brother's  blood  l  crieth  unto  me  from  the  ground. 


g  Ps.  9  :  12.     h  John  8  :  44.     i  FIeb.  12  :  24  ;  Rev.  6  :  10. 


his  brother's  purity,  in  contrast  with 
his  own  sin  and  shame.  "  Because 
his  own  works  were  evil,  and  his 
brother's  righteous,"  1  John  8  :  12. 
Oecolampadius  remarks  that  "  when 
the  Divine  counsel  has  profited  noth- 
ing, matters  commonly  grow  worse." 
Tf  Rose  up  against.  The  preposition 
here  is  the  same  used  in  the  pre- 
ceding clause — and  Cain  spake  to 
(against,) — and  is  in  this  context  sev- 
eral times  used  and  to  the  like  effect 
— as  in  vs.  9,  where  Jehovah  speaks 
to  Cain  after  the  murder — and  in  vs. 
13,  where  Cain  replies  complainingly 
to  God,  and  in  ch.  3  :  14,  where  in- 
troducing the  language  to  the  ser- 
pent, it  is  "  God  said  to  (against)  the 
serpent."  So  ch.  3  : 2,  4.  f  Sis 
brother.  So  much  the  more  cruel 
and  criminal  that  it  was  "  Ids  broth- 
er "  whom  he  slew.  Observe. — (1.) 
Here  occurs  the  first  death,  showing 
the  terrible  consequence  of  the  curse, 
not  only  in  the  death  of  the  body, 
(xlbel's,)  but  what  is  worse,  in  the 
death  of  the  soul,  (Cain's.)  (2.)  One 
sin  against  God  leads  to  other  sins 
against  Him.  "  Evil  men  and  sedu- 
cers wax  worse  and  worse,"  (2  Tim. 
3  :  13.)  How  long  Cain  harbored  this 
enmity  against  Abel  we  do  not 
know.  He  never  lost  the  grudge 
which  kept  rankling  in  his  bosom 
till  he  did  the  deed.  As  human 
death  was  unknown  till  then,  he 
could  not  have  known  to  what  an 
awful  issue  his  enmity  would  lead. 
How  must  he  have  been  shocked  to 
witness  the  result  of  his  rage.  So, 
'"sin  when  it  is  finished  bringeth 
forth  death,"  (James  1  :  15.)  It  is 
inferred  from  ch.  4  :  25,  that  this 
murder  must  have  occurred  nearly 
one  hundred  and  thirty  years  after 
Adam's  creation,  and  just  before  the 


birth  of  Seth — when  Adam  must 
have  had  a  large  number  of  descend- 
ants. 

9.  As  in  the  case  of  his  fall  m  father 
so  here,  the  criminal  is  addressed 
by  God  in  terms  of  searching  in- 
quiry. ^[  Where  is  Abel  thy  broilier  f 
This  is  the  very  point.  "  Tliy  broth- 
er  "  is  the  emphatic  part.  "  Where 
is  he  ?"  God  asks  not  for  informa- 
tion, but  to  bring  Cain  to  see  his 
awful  wickedness,  and  to  confess  his 
sin  and  shame.  Cain  had  tl  ought  to 
be  rid  of  the  presence  of  his  enemy. 
But  he  had  forgotten  the  presence 
of  God  which  now  he  cannot  escape, 
and  which  is  the  presence  cf  infinite 
goodness,  infinitely  terrible  to  the 
sinner.  *[[  I  know  not.  First  of  all, 
he  stoutly  lies  unto  God.  This  is 
the  impulse  of  sin  to  grow  bold  and 
hope  to  escape  by  further  and  bolder 
sin — especially  to  conceal  crime  by 
lying.  So  did  his  father  Adam. 
\  Am  I,  etc.  The  next  step  is  to 
charge  God  foolishly  as  if  He  asked 
of  him  something  unreasonable,  or 
laid  upon  him  a  responsibility  not 
his  own.  As  much  as  to  scy,  "  You 
have  no  right  to  demand  of  me  an 
account  of  my  brother.  1 1  now  not 
where  he  is — and  I  should  not  be 
required  to  know."  This  is  both 
falsifying  and  finding  fault  with  God. 
"  Hence  it  appears  how  great  is  the 
depravity  of  the  human  mind  ;  since 
when  convicted  and  condemned  by 
our  own  conscience,  we  still  do  not 
cease  either  to  mock  or  to  rage 
against  our  Judge." — GaUvn.  God 
has  a  right  to  demand  of  us  this 
sort  of  brother's  keeping — neither  to 
do  violence  nor  to  allow  it  to  be 
done — the  first  on  the  scois  of  jus- 
tice, the  second  on  the  score  of  love. 

10.  If  Cain  yet  hoped   that  God 


138 


GENESIS. 


[B.  G.  3975. 


11  And  now  art  thou  cursed  from  the  earth,  which  hath  open- 
ed her  mouth  to  receive  thy  brother's  blood  from  thy  hand. 

12  When  thou  tillest  the  ground,  it  shall  not  henceforth  yield 
unto  thee  her  strength  :  A  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  shalt  thou  be 
in  the  earth. 

13  And  Cain  said  unto  the  Lord,  My  punishment  is  greater 
than  I  can  bear. 


did  not  know  of  his  crime,  now  he 
must  confront  the  naked  charge. 
Now,  upon  this  wicked  denial  and 
cavil  of  Cain,  God  presses  him  with 
the  bloody  deed,  and  shows  that  he 
cannot  escape  His  strict  judgment. 
As  He  replied  to  Adam  exposing  his 
plea  of  nakedness,  (ch.  3:11,)  so 
here  to  Cain — (lit.,)  "  It  is  the  voice 
of  the  blood  of  thy  brother  crying  to 
me  from  the  ground."  Heb.,  "  the 
bloods,  (plural.)  This  plural  form  in 
the  Hebrew  expresses  eminence.  I 
hear  the  voice  of  the  precious  blood 
of  thy  brother  which  is  crying,  etc. 
The  Chald.  paraphrases  it,  "  The 
voice  of  the  bloods  of  (the  genera- 
tions of  good  men  who  might  have 
sprung  from)  thy  brother."  The 
apostle,  in  the  Hebrews,  is  thought 
by  some  to  refer  to  Abel's  blood  in 
contrast  with  that  of  Christ — but 
others  understand  it  of  the  blood  of 
Abel's  sacrifice,  (Heb.  12  :  24.)  If  the 
former,  it  would  mean  that  Abel's 
blood  cries  for  vengeance — and  that 
of  Christ  cries  for  pardon.  If  the 
latter,  it  would  mean  that  the  blood 
of  Christ  speaks  better  things  than 
the  blood  of  xibeFs  sacrifice  and  all 
the  bloody  offerings  of  the  law. 

Observe. — (1.)  God  takes  note  of 
men's  crimes  though  there  be  no 
accuser  present.  (2.)  He  visits  on 
the  murderer  his  penalty.  (3.)  He 
cares  for  the  good,  even  after  death, 
vindicating  them. 

11.  God  now  pronounces  on  Cain 
the  curse.  1st,  as  regards  the  ground. 
Just  as  the  very  ground  itself  sym- 
pathized with  the  death  of  Christ,  so 
here  with  that  of  Abel,  In  Adam's 
case,  the  ground  was  cursed  for  his 
Bake ;  in  Cain's  case,  he  himself  is 
personally  cursed  from   the    earth, 


(lit.,  ground)  "  So  that  it  shall  no 
more  afford  him  a  secure  resting 
place."  And  the  ground  would  re- 
fuse to  him  her  strength,  (even  with 
all  his  labors)  because  the  blood  of 
his  brother,  which  she  had  drunk  up, 
would  be  a  kind  of  poison  in  her  bo- 
som to  spoil  the  fruit  of  his  toil. 

12.  Shall  not  henceforth  yield,  Heb. 
shall  not  add,  etc. — shall  not  any 
more  yield,  etc.  The  original  curse 
upon  Adam  had  been  that  he  should 
gain  his  subsistence  only  by  the 
sweat  of  his  brow ;  yet  he  should 
gain  it  thus.  Upon  Cain  the  curse 
is,  that  though  he  should  till  the 
ground,  yet,  in  a  kind  of  revenge,  it 
would  refuse  to  yield  to  him  her 
strength,  and  so  he  should  roam  from 
place  to  place,  all  along  reminded  in 
his  daily  living  and  by  his  fruitless 
labors  of  his  dreadful  crime.  Mean- 
while he  should  carry  about  with 
him  the  materials  of  his  own  torture 
in  a  guilty  conscience,  such  as  a  mur- 
derer alone  can  know.  "  In  the  case 
of  the  first  murderer,  God  designed 
to  furnish  a  singular  example  oi 
malediction,  which  should  remain  in 
all  ages."  —  Calvin.  %  A  fugithe, 
Heb.,  a  wanderer  and  a  fugitive. 
P.oaming  about  unsettled,  and  frying 
from  the  face  of  man.  The  very 
ground  turned  against  him,  he 
would  be  homeless,  and  his  con- 
science condemning  him,  he  would 
flee  even  when  no  man  pursued. 

'■  lie  found,  where'er  he  roamed,  uncheered, 
unblest, 
No  pause  from  suffering,  and  from  toil  no 
rest." 

All  his  comfort  must  be  on  the  earth, 
and  this  God  takes  away  from  him. 

13.  My  punishment,  etc.,  lit.,  great 
■is  my  punishment  from  (beyondjbear 


B.  C.  3975.] 


CHAPTER  IV. 


139 


14  k  Behold,  thou  hast  driven  me  out  this  day  from  the  face  of 
the  earth;  and  J  from  thy  face  shall  I  be  hid  ;  and  I  shall  "be  a 
fugitive  and  a  vagabond  in  the  earth  ;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
111  that  every  one  that  findeth  me  shall  slay  me. 

15  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Therefore  whosoever  slayeth 
Gain,  vengeance  shall  be  taken  on  him,  n  seven-fold.  And  the 
I/ORD°set  a  mark  upon  Cain,  lest  any  finding  him  should  kill  him. 


k  Job  15  :  20-24. 
9  :  4,  6. 


1  Ps.  51  :  11.     mch.9:C;  Num.  35  :  19,  21,  27.     n  Ps.  79  :  12.     o  Ezek. 


ing  ;  or,  my  sin  from  taking  a  troy. 
He  complains  of  the  insufferable  se- 
verity of  his  punishment,  but  he 
five's  no  sign  of  repentance.  Some 
read  it,  "  My  iniquity  is  greater  than 
can  be  forgiven."  The  noun  may 
mean  either  sin,  or  punishment  of 
si ;t,  but  here  probably  the  latter,  as 
he  goes  on  more  fully  to  express  the 
idea.  Cain  was  filled  with  anger 
and  fear,  perhaps  also  with  remorse 
and  despair.  Hucernick  says,  The 
unbloody  offering  of  Cain  stands  in 
remarkable  agreement  with  the  ex- 
pression, "  My  sin  is  greater  than  can 
be  taken  away"  The  verb  is  that 
which  is  used  for  bearing  or  taking 
away  sin. 

14.  Cain  here  recites  and  dwells 
upon  his  sentence,  "  Behold  thou  hast 
driven  me  out  this  day  from  upon  the 
face  of  the  ground,  and  from  thy  face 
I  shall  be  hid."  Luther  reads,  *'  Out 
of  the  land."  The  same  word  is  used 
("the  ground,")  as  in  ver.  11,  and 
refers  to  the  same.  He  regarded  the 
sentence  as  a  virtual  exile  from  the 
face  of  the  soil,  which  should  refuse 
him  food.  What  he  adds  in  the  next 
clause  means,  "From  thy  favoring 
and  protec ting  face  I  shall  be  hid  ; 
from  thy  kind  presence  —  such  as 
made  Abel  happy,  as  it  beamed  in 
the  glorious  cherubim.  The  mur- 
derer begins  to  feel  himself  thus 
loned  of  Go  1.  And  now,  full 
of  terrors  for  the  future,  lie  sees 
nothing  in  the  prospect  but  revenge 
to  be  visited  upon  him  by  ever 
he  should  meet.  Every  one  of  Adam's 
family,  however  multiplied,  now,  and.. 
in  the  future,  would  seem  to  be  pur- 
suing him  to  slay  him.     Poor  Cain ! 


He  dreads  death,  which  he  first  saw 
so  horribly  in  the  case  of  his  brother. 

Observe. — Much  as  lie  must  have 
dreaded  to  meet  God,  he  dreads  also 
more  to  be  cast  away  from  His  pres- 
ence and  favor  forever.  Besides,  he 
seems  to  have  expected  that  his  com- 
plaint would  be  heard  and  answered 
in  the  presence  of  the  Shekinah,  but 
that  if  exiled  beyond  its  precincts, 
he  should  be  driven  forth  beyond 
the  circle  sacred  to  the  worship  of 
God,  and  to  the  highest  earthly  en- 
joyment in  the  visible  display  of  His 
presence. 

15.  Therefore.  God  spares  the  life 
of  Cain.  This  is  in  mercy  to  give 
him  opportunity  for  repentance,  and 
to  save  him  from  the  just  retribu- 
tion that  the  murderer  should  al- 
ways expect.  Capital  punishment 
Cain  felt  to  be  his  desert,  and  what 
he  should  certainly  receive  at  the 
hands  of  outraged  society.  Con- 
science witnessed  to  the  desert  of  it 
before  the  law  was  proclaimed  to 
Xoah,  (eh.  9  :  6,)  showing  thus  that 
the  law  had  its  foundation  in  the 
very  nature  of  things.  God  here 
forbade  the  natural  law  of  capital 
punishment  to  take  its  course.  God 
was  pleased  in  this  case  to  keep  the 
punishment  in  His  own  hands,  and. 
to  make  Cain  a  fearful  living  exam- 
ple to  men,  which  would  be  more  ef- 
fective in  that  early  state  of  society. 
Cain  would  thus  go  about  the  land 
a  wanderer  and  a  fugitive,  with  a 
visible  warning  also  "to  every  pur 
suer  against  the  sevenfold  vengeance 
upon  him  who  should  slay  Cain , 
thus  witnessing  of  the  Divine  ven- 
geance   reserved   against  this    first 


140 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  8975 


1G  %  And  Cain  P  went  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  mid 
dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod,  on  the  east  of  Eden. 


p  2  Kings  13  :  23  ;  24  :  20 ;  Jer.  23  :  39  ;  52  :  3. 


murderer.  Besides,  God  would  not 
have  every  man  allowed  to  take  this 
fearful  vengeance  into  his  own  hands, 
else  the  earth  would  be  turned  into 
a  hell.  This  right  has  therefore 
since  been  formally  intrusted  to  so- 
ciety. Any  fresh  murder  (though  it 
be  of  Cain)  should  be  punished  seven- 
fold. What  would  the  world  be  if 
God  did  not  thus  set  a  bridle  to  hu- 
man fury  ?  *j[  Set  a  mark  upon  Gain — 
a  sign.  The  Heb.  Eng.  Bib.  renders 
it,  "  Appointed  a  sign  for  Cain,  that 
none  finding  him  should  smite  him." 
Heng.  says  the  Avord  here  rendered 
"  mark,"  signifies  in  general  a  thing 
or  an  event,  or  an  action  which  shall 
serve  as  an  assurance  that  something 
future  shall  come  to  pass.  (Christ.  1, 
p.  319.)  The  same  phrase  is  used, 
Ezek.  21 :  19.  Appoint  to  thee  two 
ways.  Ps.  19  : 4.  Hath  he  set  a  tab- 
ernacle to  the  sun.  Dan.  1 :  7.  Ap- 
pointed to  them  names.  Delitzsch  un- 
derstands it  of  a  guaranty  given, 
and  that  somehow  God  stamped  the 
mark  of  inviolability  upon  him. 
This  was  to  be  somehow  a  visible 
mark  of  the  Divine  punishment — 
that  men  might  have  before  their 
eyes  an  example  of  the  Divine  pun- 
ishment upon  murder.  The  most 
various  conjectures  have  been  made 
as  to  this  mark  or  sign  set  upon  Cain. 
Some  have  thought  that  it  was  only 
a  sign  given  to  and  wrought  for  Cain — 
an  assurance  from  God.  So  the  Sept. 
reads.  But  this  should  have  been 
differently  expressed.  Here  it  reads, 
God  put,  placed,  imposed  to  Mm,  (Dan. 
1 :  7.)  What  this  mark  was,  we  can- 
not say,  and  it  is  idle  to  conjecture. 
i'.ilrin  says,  "It  may  suffice  us  that 
there  was  some  visible  token  which 
should  repress  in  the  spectators  the 
desire  and  the  audacity  to  inflict  in- 
jury." The  terms  clearly  indicate 
this.  And  this  would  also  seem 
part  of  the  plan,  that  while  this 
mark  should  bo  Cain's  brand  as  a 


murderer,  it  would  be  God's  mark  of 
his  protection  from  others  who  would 
murder  him,  in  a  natural  retaliation, 
and  thus  it  would  express  God's  ven- 
geance against  the  awful  crime  as 
reserved  to  himself.  This  sign  is 
held  by  many  to  have  been  a  wild 
ferocity  of  aspect,  that  made  every 
one  shrink  from  him.  But  "  oth" 
in  the  Hebrew  does  not  mean  a 
"  brand,"  but  a  token,  as  the  rainbow 
was  a  token. 

10.  Went  out.  According  to  the 
sentence  just  pronounced  upon  him, 
Cain  went  out  a  Avanderer  and  a  fu- 
gitive in  the  land.  In  so  doing,  he, 
of  course,  went  out  from  the  presence 
of  Jehovah — the  place  of  His  public 
worship  at  the  gate  of  Eden,  where 
the  family  of  Adam  had,  from  the 
time  of  the  fall,  held  public  worship, 
as  the  church  of  God.  Cain  was 
therefore  an  apostate,  and  excom- 
municated by  this  sentence  of  God 
upon  the  murderer.  Of  course  he 
was  now  separated  from  all  godly 
associations,  his  forebodings  were 
now  realized,  and  from  the  face  (or 
presence)  of  God  he  was  hid.  Alien 
as  he  was,  at  heart,  from  God,  he 
had  some  sense  left  of  the  value  of 
His  worship  and  favor.  He  had 
seen  the  happiness  of  the  household 
church,  with  which  he  had  been 
connected  by  tenderest  ties,  and 
could  not  but  dread  to  be  banished 
forever  from  it.  So  the  worst  men, 
even  murderers,  often  feel  the  bonds 
of  parental  religion,  and  dread  the 
thought  of  exclusion  from  all  the 
good  and  the  blest  in  heaven.  ^[  He 
dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod.  This  coun- 
try has  a  name  which  means  exile, 
flight,  and  is  like  the  word  for  wan- 
derer, (vs.  12.)  This  stands  in  op- 
position to  Eden — delight— pleasure 
It  was  located  eastward  beyond  Eden 
Orotius  places  it  in  Arabia,  Miehaclis 
in  India :  Huei,  in  Susiana ;  EiccJd, 
in  Iconium ;  Hasse,  in  the  Caucasian 


B.  C.  3973.] 


CHAPTER  IV. 


141 


1 7  And  Cain  knew  his  wife,  and  she  conceived,  and  bare 
Enoch  :  and  he  builded  a  city,  land  called  the  name  of  the  city 
after  the  name  of  his  son  Enoch. 

18  And  unto  Enoch  was  born  Irad:  and  Irad  begat  Mehujael : 
and  Mehujael  begat  Methusael:  and  Methusael  begat  Laraech. 

19  ®[  And  Lamech  took  unto  him  two  wives:  the  name  of  the 
one  was  Adah,  and  the  name  of  the  other  Zillah. 


q  Ps.  49:  11. 


mountains ;  and  Buttmann,  near 
Cashmere.  Some  say  in  Arabia  Pe- 
trea,  cursed  witli  barrenness  on 
Cain's  account.  These  are  only  con- 
jectures. It  is  plain  that  Eden,  in 
which  was  the  garden  of  Paradise, 
was  a  district  of  country  noted  for 
richness  of  products,  and  that  this 
land  of  exile  was  beyond — outside  of 
this. 

§  18.  Development  in  the  line 
op  Cain — City  Building,  Art, 
and  Polygamy.    Ch.  4 :  17-24. 

17.  It  will  now  appear  what  was 
the  tendency  of  Cain's  progeny  in 
the  direction  of  his  own  alienation 
from  God.  Whom  Cain  married  we 
do  not  know.  In  the  earliest  time 
of  course  it  was  allowed  to  many 
the  nearest  relatives,  from  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  case.  Adam  had  many 
more  sons  and  daughters  than 
are  expressly  mentioned.  See 
ch.  5:4.  *[  Enoch.  This  name 
means  initiated,  or  dedicated,  and 
may  refer  to  his  being  the  first  of 
Cain's  posterity,  at  least  since  the 
murder,  or  to  his  being  the  intro- 
duction of  a  new  r"**1  ip  opposition 
to  the  portion  of  tnat  irorn  which 
Cain  had  been  cut  off.  *[  And  he 
builded ;  lit.,  was  building  a  city,  or 
was  builder  of  a  city.  This  seemed 
also  the  introduction  of  a  new  epoch, 
and  he  affixed  to  the  city  the  name 
of  his  son.  While  it  appears  con- 
trary to  the  idea  of  his  being  a  wan- 
derer and  a  fugitive,  it  is  only  his 
effort  to  fix  himself  in  a  home.  This 
was  the  development  of  Cain's  world- 
liness  and  independence  of  God, 
which  reached   its    height    in    the 


building  of  Babel.  We  must  not 
understand  this  of  "a  city"  like 
those  of  modern  times,  but  of  a  fixed 
place,  in  contrast  with  the  tents  of 
wandering  shepherd  life.  Cain  is 
here  represented  as  founding  a  king- 
dom of  the  world,  the  opposite  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Cain's  family  in- 
vented the  arts  and  pleasures  of  life, 
and  deified  themselves  and  their  an- 
cestors.— Kurtz. 

18.  Here  we  find  the  first  genea- 
logical table.  The  names  here  are 
strikingly  similar  to  those  of  the 
family  of  Seth,  (ch.  5.)  But  the  two 
series  are  differently  arranged,  and 
some  names  are  omitted.  Hiwer- 
nick  refers  this  similarity  to  the 
scarcity  of  names.  Baumgarten  un- 
derstands it  as  showing  that  the  de- 
scendants of  Seth,  by  adopting  the 
names  of  the  family  of  Cain,  had  in- 
tended to  show  that  they  had  taken 
the  place  of  the  firstborn  but  degen- 
erate line.  The  names  here  given 
seem  to  be  those  of  the  firstborn,  in 
whom  the  genealogy  was  traced. 

19.  Lamech.  The  notice  of  Cain's 
descendants  extends  to  this  man,  the 
sixth  from  Cain,  "  in  whom  the  un- 
godliness of  a  family,  who  only 
sought  after  the  things  of  this  world, 
reached  its  climax,  as  may  be  gath- 
ered from  his  polygamy — from  his 
godless  confidence  in  and  hymn  to 
the  sword — and  from  what  is  record- 
ed of  his  sons,  who  directed  their 
energies  to  cultivate  exclusively  the 
worldly  side  of  life  by  arts  and  in- 
dustry. His  family  foreshadowed 
the  later  stage  of  heathenism  in  its 
twofold  aspect." — Kurtz.  Two  wives. 
This  first  breach  of  the  marriage  law 
on  record  is  noticed  of  Lamech,  show- 


142 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  3973. 


20  And  Adah  bare  Jabal :  he  was  the  father  of  such  as  dwell 
in  tents,  and  of  such  as  //are  cattle. 

21  And  his  brother's  name  was  Jubal:  he  was  the  r  father  of 
all  such  as  handle  the  harp  and  organ. 

22  And  Zillah,  she  also  bare  Tubal-cain,  an  instructor  of  every 
artificer  in  brass  and  iron:  and  the  sister  of  Tubal-cain  was  Kaa- 
mah. 


r  Rom.  4:  11,  12. 


ing  the  wicked  development  in  Cain's 
line.  Lamech  was  the  first  bigamist, 
and  here  was  the  origin  of  polygamy, 
which  has  been  attended  with  so 
much  corruption  and  crime.  "  The 
Lord  willed  that  the  corruption  of 
lawful  marriage  should  proceed  from 
the  house  of  Cain,  and  from  the  per- 
son of  Lamech,  in  order  that  poly- 
gamists  might  be  ashamed  of  the  ex- 
ample."— Calvin. 

Observe. — In  this  seventh  gene- 
ration wickedness  is  developed  along 
with  art,  but  the  piety  of  Enoch  also 
along  with  the  wickedness  of  La- 
mech. 

20.  Here  in  the  eighth  generation 
we  have  still  further  developments. 
"  Adah  "  means  be  anty,  and  "  Zillah  " 
shadow.  In  the  line  of  one  of  these 
wives  is  here  traced  the  origin  of  no- 
madic life.  *[  Jabal.  He  was  the  fa- 
ther— the  founder,  or  head  of  such. 
He  instituted  this  class  of  men  ;  lit., 
he  was  {the)  father  of  the  irihaMter  of 
a  tent,  and  of  possession,  {wealth,  as 
consisting  in  cattle.)  Gr.,  cattle-feed- 
ers. According  to  the  Heb.  idiom, 
the  instructor  of  a  class,  or  the  orig- 
inator, founder  of  a  body  is  called 
the  father  of  such.  The  patriarchs 
were  afterwards  such  dwellers  in 
tents,  having  their  wealth  in  cattle, 
as  Job,  Abraham,  Isaac,  etc.  Thus 
Cain's  progeny  settled  in  an  unfruit- 
ful region,  and  driven  to  their  in- 
genuity and  skill  for  subsistence,  ap- 
plied all  their  powers  to  inventions 
and  worldly  aggrandizement. 

21.  Jubcd.  From  the  same  mother 
sprang  the  founder  of  instrumental 
music --the  inventor  of  musical  in- 
strum-jnts,  and  of  musical  perform- 
ances.    Of  xll  talcing  hold  of—  hand- 


ling— the  harp.  Instrumental  music 
attained  to  high  perfection  in  Da- 
vid's time,  and  was  devoted  to  the 
public  worship  of  God  in  the  sanc- 
tuary, Ps.  150.  David  played  the 
harp — a  stringed  instrument,  which 
he  carried  about  with  him  at  times. 
It  was  played  with  the  fingers; 
sometimes  with  a  bow,  1  Sam. 
16  :  23.  The  organ  was  afterwards  a 
collection  of  small  pipes,  or  reeds, 
blown  probably  with  the  mouth. 
These  two  names  are  here  used  in 
the  history,  not  so  much  to  describe 
exactly  the  instruments  as  to  classify 
all  string  and  wind  instruments  un- 
der these  two  divisions,  as  having 
originated  with  Jubal. 

22.  Here  in  the  other  branch  of 
Lamech's  family  is  traced  the  origin 
of  metallic  arts.  ^  Tubal  Coin.  The 
name  Vulcan,  in  mythology,  has  come 
from  this.  ^[  An  instructor ;  lit., 
hammerer  —  or  (father  of)  every 
forger  and  icorker  in  brass  and  iron. 
It  is  plain  that  the  working  of  met- 
als was,  so  early,  a  branch  of  indus- 
try. In  the  building  of  the  ark  this 
was  requisite,  and  so  also  for  the 
common  necessities  of  life.  Tradi- 
tion says  that  Netamah  first  added 
ornaments  \o  neathen  apparel.  The 
name  means  beautiful. 

Observe. — Here,  in  the  family  of 
Lamech,  the  first  violator  of  the  mar- 
riage law,  which  is  at  the  founda- 
tion of  social  order,  begins  the  first 
special  cultivation  of  the  arts,  and 
the  first  classification  and  division  of 
industrial  pursuits.  Mere  civiliza- 
tion and  culture  can  never  raise  men 
from  moral  and  social  degradation. 
The  fine  arts  flourished  most  in  the 
proudest  age  of  classic  culture  and 


B.  C.  3072.] 


CHAPTER  IV. 


143 


23  And  Lamerh  said  unto  his  wives,  Adah  and  Zillah,  Hear 
my  voice,  ye  wives  of  Lamech,  hearken  unto  my  speech :  for  I 
have  slain  a  man  to  my  wounding,  and  a  young  man  to  my  hurt. 

24  s  If  Cain  shall  be  avenged  seven-fold,  truly  Lamech  seventy 
and  seven-fold. 


s  vs.  15. 


of  mere  worldly  learning.  This  was 
the  problem  so  folly  worked  out  be- 
fore the  advent  of  Christ,  that  "  the 
world,  by  wisdom,  knew  not  God," 
(1  Cor.  1:21.) 

23.  This  remarkable  manifesto  of 
Lamech  shows  the  increasing  law- 
lessness and  daring  of  men  in  the 
line  of  the  first  murderer.  Though 
a  barrier  was  set  against  the  grow- 
ing impiety  by  means  of  public  wor- 
ship, and  a  separation  of  the  godly 
in  the  family  of  Seth,  yet  this  was 
not  sufficient  to  arrest  the  tide  of 
reckless  wickedness.  Though  Enoch 
walked  with  God,  (ch.  5  :  24,)  and  by 
faith  was  honored  with  translation, 
that  he  should  not  see  death,  and  so 
escaped  thus  far  the  penalty  de- 
nounced upon  his  progenitor,  though 
Enoch  was  thus  a  witness  to  that 
primitive  time,  and  to  that  wicked 
race  of  a  future  state,  and  of  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  righteous  and 
wicked — though  he  was  himself  a 
prince  among  God's  people,  and  a 
pillar  in  the  church,  and  a  witness 
for  God  of  a  judgment  to  come  upon 
the  wicked  —  yet  Lamech's  daring 
here  shows  how  the  iniquity  of  the 
race  was  hasting  to  fill  up  its  meas- 
ure for  the  flood,  Heb.  11 :  5 ;  Jude, 
vs.  14,  15.  Enoch's  prophecy  may 
include  a  reference  to  the  deluge, 
but  it  points  to  the  last  judg- 
ment. ^[  Listen.  This  would  seem 
to  be  a  song  of  Lamech  in  celebra- 
tion of  his  son's  invention  of  the 
sword,  and  has  some  connexion  with 
music  of  Jubal.  The  history  of  the 
Cainites  began  with  a  murder-deed. 
It  ends  with  a  rnurder-song.  La- 
mech boasts  to  his  wife  of  the  securi- 
ty and  power  afforded  him  by  these 
weapons.  On  these  he  presumes  to 
rely   for  defence    and  impunity  in 


!  murder.  *[  For  I  have  slain.  Rath- 
er,  "  Though,  (or  if)  a  man  I  have 
slain  (or  should  slay)  on  account  of 
my  wounding,  and  a  young  man  on 
account  of  my  hurt ;  (then)  if  Cain  be 
avenged  sevenfold,  and  (truly)  La- 
mech seventy  and  seven."  This  is  his 
outspoken,  presumptuous  confidence. 
It  would  seem  probable  that  Lamech 
had  slain  one  of  his  brethren,  a  Cain- 
ite,  in  self-defence,  yet  his  wive.- 
feared  that  the  vengeance  denoun 
ced  in  case  of  any  one  slaying  Cain 
would  overtake  him.  To  allay  these 
apprehensions,  he  urged  that  the 
homicide  was  justifiable,  and  that  he 
woidd  be  secure  even  beyond  Cain. 
This  is  the  earliest  specimen  of  'poet- 
ry. We  observe  the  evidence  there 
is  here  of  the  publicity  given  to  the 
Divine  dealing  in  regard  to  Cain. 
Whether  Lamech  here  announces  to 
his  wives  that  he  has  slain  a  man  in 
self-defence  or  revenge,  on  account  of 
some  wound  and  hurt  he  had  re- 
ceived from  such,  or  that  he  means 
to  do  so,  or  only  boasts,  as  some  un- 
derstand, that  now  by  this  now 
weapon  he  can  slay  a  man  by  a 
wound  of  his,  and  a  young  man 
(however  athletic)  by  a  hurt  (or 
stroke)  of  his,  {Heb.  Fam.  Bib.)  he 
boasts  that  he  shall  be  secure,  even 
beyond  Cain;  and  if  the  slayer  of 
Cain  should  be  punished  sevenfold, 
the  slayer  of  Lamech  should  be  pun- 
ished seventy  and  sevenfold.  Thus 
one  sinner  is  emboldened  in  sin  by 
the  suspension  of  judgment  in  the 
case  of  another.  Some  suggest  that 
Lamech's  poetic  and  profane  boast 
may  have  been  uttered  in  mockery 
of  Enoch's  prophecy  of  the  judg- 
ment. Enoch's  warning  may  have 
been  uttered  to  rebuke  the  ungodly 
arrogance  of  Lamech,  his  contempo- 


144 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  3972. 


25  ^f  And  Adam  knew  his  wife  again,  and  she  "bare  a  son,  and 
*  called  his  name  Seth :  For  God,  said  she,  hath  appointed  me 
another  seed  instead  of  Abel,  whom  Cain  slew. 

26  And  to  Seth,  u  to  him  also  there  was  born  a  son;   and  he 


called  his  name 
of  the  Lord. 


Enos  :   then  began  men  w  to  call  upon  the  name 


t  ch.  5 :  3. 
1:2. 


n  ch.  5 


w  1  Kings  18  :  24  ;  Ps.  116  :  17 ;  Joel  2  :  32  ;   Zepli.  3  :  9  ;   1  Cor. 


rary,  who  openly  assumes  the  char- 
acter of  a  prophet  of  infidelity. 
Enoch  here  open  witness  of  the  com- 
ing judgment.  He  was  honored  as 
being,  in  his  own  case  of  translation 
to  glory,  a  most  striking  witness  of 
the  reali  y  of  a  spirit-world,  and  of  a 
future  state  of  retribution,  Heb.  11 : 6. 
But  the  rampant  wickedness,  pro- 
fanity, and  crime  which  Lamech  rep- 
resented and  boasted  soon  filled  the 
earth.  Men  must  now  take  sides 
for  God  and  the  truth,  or  against  all 
good.  'I  he  -church  must  come  out 
from  the  world,  and  be  separate. 
The  tru-j  believer  must  evince  his 
faith  bv  his  walk,  and  his  godly 
walk  by  his  faith,  2  Cor.  6 :  16-18 ; 
Mai.  3 :  16-18. 

25.  The  Gainite  line  has  been 
shown  to  be  secular  and  earthly 
in  its  development.  The  climax 
of  this  development  was  reach- 
ed in  Lamech,  the  bigamist  and 
murdere.:.  The  historian  now  pass- 
es to  trace  the  opposite  and  godly 
line  of  teeth,  and  to  show  how  con- 
trary was  their  tendency  and  develop- 
ment. Tor  Beth' 8  line  is  in  the  place 
of  Abel's.  "If  And  Adam  kneic  his 
icife  yet  further,  and  she  brought  forth 
a  son,  and  called  his  name  Seth.  This 
name  means  set — appointed,  as  is  sig- 
nified in  the  following  explanatory 
clause.  Tf  For  God  hath  appointed 
me  (Seth)  another  seed  instead  of 
Abel.  This  naming  of  this  son  is 
her  conf  ssion  of  faith  in  God's  cove- 
enant-dealing,  with  an  eye  to  the 
'promised  seed.  The  term  "  seed " 
here  is  singular,  and  looks  to  a  per- 
sonal "  seed."  The  mother  had  found 
her  hope;  sadly  disappointed  in  the 


first  brothers.  Cain  was  indeed  pos- 
session, but  only  for  her  woe,  and 
that  of  her  household.  Abel  was 
vanity,  alas,  only  too  soon  passing 
away  from  her  sight.  And  now  she 
looks  upon  Seth,  as  divinely  set,  or 
appointed  for  her  as  Abel's  substi- 
tute. This  name  calls  attention  to 
the  Divine  ordination  —  the  same 
Divine  purpose  which  declares,  "I 
have  set  my  king  upon  mv  holy 
hill  of  Ziom"  See  Ps.  2.  <{Wliom 
Cain  slew.  This  is  her  touching  and 
bitter  reference  to  Cain's  wicked 
murder  of  his  good  brother.  And  it 
would  seem  that  God  intimated  to 
our  first  parents  by  a  divine  oracle, 
that  Seth  should  be  the  heir  of  the 
promise.  This  was  calculated  to  re- 
vive their  hope,  which  had  been 
crushed  at  the  death  of  Abel. 

§  19.  Development  in  the  God- 
ly Line  of  Abel — Seth — Enos 
—  formal  Separation  of  the 
Chtjech.    Ch.  4  :  25,  26. 

26.  The  godly  line  of  Seth  is  now 
traced — the  opposite  in  tendency  to 
that  of  Cain.  ^  Enos.  This  name 
sounds  and  looks  like  Enoch,  but  in 
the  meaning  it  is  quite  different.  It 
means  weak  man,  while  Enoch  means 
begun,  or  dedicated.  This  name  Enos 
may  have  reference  to  the  sad  de- 
generation of  men  at  that  time.  Or 
this  may  have  expressed  the  pious 
estimate  of  man  by  the  line  of  Seth 
in  opposition  to  the  bold  and  daring 
boasts  of  Lamech.  The  Psalmist 
uses  the  term  when  he  says,  "  What 
is  weak  man  (Enosh)  that  thou  art 
mindful    of  him,"   etc.,   (Ps.   8  : 2.) 


CHAPTER  IV. 


B.  C.  3972.] 


^[  Then.  This  period  is  here  marked 
as  one  of  special  religious  interest ' 
and  revival.  With  this  family  of, 
Enos  began  the  stated  and  solemn 
public  worship  of  Jehovah  on  the  | 
part  of  a  separated  class.  There  had  | 
been  a  church  in  the  family  of  Adam, 
and  public  worship  had  been  per- 
formed at  the  gate  of  Eden  before 
the  Shekinah.  But  now  the  family 
of  Seth  began  to  rank  distinctly  as 
worshippers  of  God,  and  to  be  sep- 
arated from  the  world  as  such.  The 
margin  reads,  "  Then  began  men  to  be 
called  by  the  name  of  the  Lord — to  be 
known  as  a  separate  class  of  godly 
ones.  The  Heb.  Fam.  Bib.  reads, 
"  Then  it  was  begun  to  call  (idols)  by 
the  name  of  the  Eternal."  But  the 
phrase  used  in  the  text  is  often  else- 
where found  in  the  first  sense,  Gen. 
12  :  8  ;  13  :  4 ;  21 :  33,  etc.  f  Began. 
This  verb  means  more  commonly  to 
profane.  Hence  many  understand 
this  passive  form  thus,  Tiien  there  was 
profane  invocation  of  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah. But  the  term  also  means  to 
begin.  And  this  seems  the  better 
sense.  Lit.,  Then  it  was  begun  to  call 
on  the  name  of  Jehovah.  That  is — 
in  the  days  of  Enos  the  formal,  pub- 
lic worship  of  God  was  begun  in 
word  and  deed,  in  prayer  and  offer- 
ing, by  a  separated  class.  This  rec- 
ord marks  the  formal  and  open  sep- 
aration of  the  Sethite  line  from  that 
of  Cain.  This  began  in  the  time  of 
Enos,  the  first  grandson  of  Adam, 
and  in  the  third  generation  of  the 
godly  line.  Moses  here  commends 
the  piety  of  one  family  which  wor- 
shipped God  in  purity  and  holiness, 
when  religion  among  other  people 
was  polluted  or  extinct.  After  Seth 
begat  a  son  like  himself,  and  had  a 
rightly  constituted  family,  the  face 
of  the  church  began  distinctly  to  ap- 
pear, and  that  worship  of  God  was 
set  up  which  might  continue  to  pos- 
terity."— Calvin.  Yet  so  great  was 
the  deluge  of  impiety  in  the  world 
that  religion  was  rapidly  hastening 
to  destruction.  Others  read  it,  Then 
it  was  begun  to  call  (God's  people)  by 
the  name  of  Jehovah — "  sons  of  God," 

voi..  3.-  -7. 


145 


ch.  6 : 2.  But  the  phrase  is  used 
commonly  for  invocation  and  wor- 
ship. This  passage  connects  closely 
with  ch.  6,  where  the  distinction  is 
more  plainly  indicated  between  the 
"  sons  of  God,"  and  "  the  daugh- 
ters of  men."  And  it  is  most  proha 
ble  that  at  this  time  the  consecration 
of  the  people  of  God  took  place,  in 
opposition  to  the  development  of 
evil,  and  God  became  better  known 
as  Jehovah. 

Observe. — This  striking  and  im- 
portant record  signalizes  the  third 
generation  of  men.  And  this,  to- 
gether with  the  Sethite  genealogy 
following,  gives  us  to  see  who  are 
"  the  sons  of  God  "  as  a  class.  (See 
ch.  6  :  2.)  %  Jehovah.  There  is  good 
ground  to  suppose  that  though  the 
name  "  Jehovah  "  had  been  first  used 
by  Eve,  to  designate  the  promised 
seed — the  Coming  One — she  had  not 
used  the  name  as  specially  applica- 
ble to  God,  but  only  in  its  naked 
sense  of  the  Coming  One :  yet  that 
afterwards  God  was  pleased  to  reveal 
the  name  as  applicable  to  Himself  as 
the  Comer,  and  thus  further  unfolded 
the  Messianic  idea,  viz.,  that  the 
promised  seed  was  to  be  God.  Then 
we  see  how  at  this  period  here  refer- 
red to,  in  the  time  of  Enos,  God  was 
first  publicly  worshipped  by  the  name 
of  Jehovah,  which  was  an  advance 
upon  the  previous  worship  by  the 
name  of  Elohim.  Thus  the  truth  of 
a  Divine  Redeemer  became  gradual- 
ly more  known  and  rejoiced  in.  And 
Moses  uses  the  name  Jehovah  Elohim 
in  the  general  account,  ch.  2 :  4-25  ; 
ch.  3  : 1,  and  yet  uses  Elohim  in  the 
dialogue  at  the  temptation,  as  the 
name  actually  in  use  at  the  time  of 
that  event. 

Observe. — With  this  antediluvian 
theocracy  there  seems  also  to  have 
been  the  distinction  of  clean  and  un- 
clean beasts,  and  probably  the  com- 
mand to  be  separate,  and  not  to  in- 
termarry with  the  daughters  of  men 
— the  outside  world,  (ch.  6,)  and  thus 
we  have  here  the  earliest  embodi- 
ment of  the  true  "idea  of  the 
church "    as    afterwards    in    Israel; 


146 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  4102 


CHAPTER    V. 

THIS  is  the  abook  of  the  generations  of  Adam  :   In  the  day 
that  God  created  man,  in  b  the  likeness  of  God  made  he  him : 


a  1  Chron.  1:1;  Luke  3  : 


b  ch.  1  :  26  ;  Eph.  4  :  24  ;  Col.  3:10. 


and  yet  further  in  the  New  Jeru- 
salem. 

CHAPTER  V. 

§  20.    SETniTE  Line,  to  Noah  and 
his  Sons.    Ch.  5  : 1-32. 

The  next  three  generations,  the 
fourth,  fifth  and  sixth,  are  occupied 
with  Patriarchal  names. 

The  sacred  historian  having  now 
traced  the  alien  line  of  Cain  to  its 
fierce  climax  in  Lamech,  and  having 
introduced  us  to  the  other  branch  of 
Adam's  house  from  which  a  godly 
posterity  is  to  descend — the  birth  of 
Enos,  (which  is  the  term  for  ice  ok 
man,)  being  the  period  for  the  more 
public  separation  of  the  godly  line 
in  the  institution  of  Divine  worship 
— he  now  gives  us  in  this  chapter, 
the  regular  commencement  of  those 
genealogical  tables  which  are  con- 
tinued through  this  Book  in  a  con- 
nected chain,  here  and  there  inter- 
rupted by  the  narrative.  These 
genealogical  tables  are  important,  as 
by  them  the  true  lineage  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Messiah,  the  Promised 
Seed — is  traced,  as  Luke  gives  it,  in 
outline,  up  to  Adam,  (Luke,  ch.  1.) 
For  more  than  fifteen  hundred  years 
we  have  only  this  outward  frame- 
work of  the  history,  consisting  chiefly 
of  names,  and  thus  carrying  us  up 
to  the  period  of  the  Flood,  with  only 
a  few  fragmentary  notices  prior  to 
that  great  event.  This  was  the 
childhood  of  the  race — and  here  we 
have  given  to  us,  not  all  the  descend- 
ants, but  only  those  sons  through 
whom  the  pious  lineage  is  traced. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  names  in 
the  godly  line  of  Seth  are  very  similar 
to  those  in  the  wicked  line  of  Cain  ; 
shewing  by  the  way  that  the  differ- 


ence was  in  something  more  than 
the  name.  A  fact  is  here  to  be  no- 
ticed which  is  most  important  to  the 
authenticity  of  the  "Mosaic  history 
itself  when  viewed  apart  from  its 
inspired  authority;  to  wit,  that  a 
single  individual,  Methusaleh,  was 
contemporary  with  Adam  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years — with 
Noah  about  six  hundred,  and  with 
Shem  one  hundred.  It  may  be  add- 
ed that  Shem  lived  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  at  the  same  time  with 
Abraham,  down  to  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  before  Christ. 
Thus  a  single  living  witness  connects 
Noah  and  his  sons  with  Adam — and 
another  connects  Abraham,  the 
founder  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  with 
this  contemporary  of  Adam.  Abra- 
ham received  from  the  lips  of  Shem 
what  he  (Shem)  had  been  learning 
from  one,  who,  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years  had  conversed  with 
the  progenitor  of  the  race.  The 
chain  of  witnesses  is  but  two.  As 
the  oldest  historian  of  the  world 
was  a  Hebrew,  and  prefaced  his  his- 
tory with  an  account  of  the  origin 
of  all  things,  the  importance  of  this 
|  close  connexion  of  the  progenitor  of 
the  Hebrew  nation  with  the  progen- 
itor of  the  race,  will  be  seen.  Shem 
was,  for  fifty  years,  cotemporary  with 
Jacob,  who  probably  saw  Jochebed, 
Moses'  mother.  Thus  Moses  could 
have  obtained  the  history  of  Abra- 
ham, and  even  of  the  deluge  at  third 
hand.  The  average  age  of  the  ante- 
diluvian patriarchs  was  eight  hun- 
dred and  fiftv  years.  (See  Prin. 
Rev.,  1858,  p.  422. 

1.  This  is  the  Book.  Here  begins 
a  formal  genealogical  table,  in  the 
line  of  Seth,  and  attention  is  called 
to  the  distinction  from  that  of  Cain, 
by    beginning    formally  back  with 


B.C.  3972.] 


CHAPTER  V. 


147 


2  cMale  and  female  created  he  them;  and  blessed  them,  and. 
called  their  name  Adam,  in  the  day  when  they  were  created. 

3  %  And  Adam  lived  an  hundred  and  thirty  years,  and  begat 
a  son  in  his  own  likeness,  after  his  image  ;  and  d  called  his  name 
Seth : 

c  ch.  1  :  27.    d  ch.  4 :  25. 


Adam.  How  far  the  formula  with 
which  the  chapter  opens,  is  any 
proof  of  another  document  being  here 
copied,  or  incorporated,  in  whole  or 
in  part,  see  Introduction.  The  in- 
dication here  is  plain  that  the  ge- 
nealogy that  follows  is  the  transcript 
from  authentic  genealogical  tables 
in  the  patriarchal  families.  The 
register  is  not  given  of  all  the  races 
of  Adam  but  of  the  chief  of  his  des- 
cendants by  Seth.  No  register  is 
given  of  the  race  of  Cain.  He  is 
dropped  out  as  having  apostatized 
from  God,  and  the  Sethite  line  is 
here  copied  reaching  to  Noah  and 
his  sons.  We  see  that  the  tran- 
scribing from  a  genealogical  table 
required  inspiration  to  direct  it — and 
here  we  see  it  limited  under  the 
same  inspiration.  So  that  it  is  a 
copy  only  in  part,  and  to  serve  the 
purpose  of  the  inspired  history. 
There  is  a  good  reason  and  a  strik- 
ing significance  in  this  form  of  the 
opening  verses,  (1-3,)  as  will  be  seen. 
The  rehearsal  of  the  facts  of  man's 
creation  is  in  terms  which  forcibly 
remind  us  of  Adam's  original  estate 
of  holiness  " in  the  likeness  of  God" 
from  which  the  fallen  race  had  al- 
ready so  degenerated.  And  this  is 
given  to  present  more  strikingly  the 
contrast  (vs.  3,)  that  Seth  is  begot- 
ten in  Adam's  "  own  (fallen)  likeness, 
after  his  image"  instead  of  "  the 
likeness  of  God."  ^[  In  the  day.  So 
ch.  2:4.  T  God  created.  The  ori- 
gin of  the  first  pair  is  here  noted  as 
being  by  God's  direct  creative  power, 
and  not  by  generation  as  others. 
TT  Made  He  Mm.  The  term  asah, 
made,  as  distinct  from  bar  a,  created, 
is  here  to  be  noticed.  Here  the  term 
demuth — likeness,  is  used.  In  ch. 
X  :  27,  it  is  tselem — image. 


2.  Adam — "  many  The  term  for 
"  man  "  in  the  history  of  the  crea- 
tion is  "Adam,"  and  here  it  has  the 
wide  sense  as  we  use  the  term  "  man." 
T[  Their  name.  This  name  is  given 
to  Adam,  as  the  head  of  the  race. 
"  This  clause,"  says  Caloin,  "  com- 
mends the  sacred  bond  of  marriage, 
and  the  inseparable  union  of  hus- 
band and  wife — as  both  are  included 
under  one  name."  In  ch.  2  :  7,  the 
name  of  man  is  noticed  as  referring 
to  the  ground  from  which  he  was 
formed.  Adam  from  adamah,  or 
adhamah,  as  homo,  (Lat.)  from  humus, 
or  from  x(Hiat,  (Gr.).  The  term  man 
is  traced  in  the  Sanscrit  mdnuscha — 
manuschja,  from  man,  {to  think,)  man 
as — mens,  (mind.)  (Keil  and  Delitsch.) 

3.  An  hundred  and  thirty  years. 
This  is  the  first  chronological  date. 
"j[  In  his  own  likeness.  Adam  himself 
had  been  created  in  the  image  of 
God — in  knowledge,  righteousness, 
and  true  holiness,  and  entrusted 
with  dominion  over  the  creatures. 
But  he  had  fallen  by  sin — and  now 
he  begets  a  son  in  his  own  likeness — 
darkened  in  understanding,  depraved 
in  heart,  dying  in  body — and  dis- 
tressed by  the  loss  of  God's  favor. 
A  sinner  begets  a  sinner,  but  only 
the  power  of  God  can  give  new 
birth  to  the  soul.  (John  3  :  5.)  1"  Af- 
ter his  image.  This  clause  is  added 
to  impress  the  important  truth  that 
Adam's  posterity  was  not  begotten 
in  the  image  of  God,  as  he  himself 
had  been,  but  in  that  fallen  image 
which  had  come  upon  him  and  upon 
his  posterity  with  him.  "  The  refer- 
ence is  in  part  to  the  first  origin  of 
our  nature,  at  the  same  time  its  cor- 
ruption and  pollution  is  to  be  noticed, 
which  having  been  contracted  by 
Adam  through  the  Fall  has  flowed 


148 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  386? 


4  e  And  the  days  of  Adam  after  he  had  begotten  Seth  were 
eight  hundred  years:  fand  he  begat  sons  and  daughters: 

5  And  all  the*  days  that  Adam  lived  were  nine  hundred  and 
thirty  years;   ffandhedied. 

6  And  Seth  lived  an  hundred  and  five  years,  and  h  begat  Enos  : 

e  1  Chron.  1  :  1,  etc.    f  ch.  1  :  28.     g  ch.  3  :  19  ;  Heb.  9  :  27.    h  ch.  4  :  26. 


down  to  all  liis  posterity." — CalHn. 
1"  Seth — "  compensation,  or  founda- 
tion." Seth  was  set  as  a  substitute 
for  Abel.  "  Moses  traces  the  off- 
spring of  Adani  only  through  the 
line  of  Seth  to  propose  for  our  con- 
sideration the  succession  of  the 
church." — Calvin.  He  does  not 
name  Abel,  because  he  was  removed 
without  issue,  and  was  separated, 
that  he  might  be  an  example  to  us 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
Nor  does  he  name  Cain  in  this  list, 
because  he  was  cut  off  from  the  lin- 
eage of  Christ,  and  cast  out  of  the 
true  church.  Seth,  though  born  in 
natural  corruption,  was  constituted 
one  of  the  faithful  line  by  Divine 
grace.  The  great  longevity  of  these 
patriarchs  shows  "  by  what  slow  de- 
grees the  effects  of  the  Paradisaical 
state  wore  out." — Oerlach.  This  re- 
minds us  that  man  was  called  at  the 
first  to  immortalit}' — and  in  God's 
plan,  this  longevity  was  allowed  to 
serve  the  purpose  of  populating  the 
earth  more  speedily,  and  of  safely 
transmitting  primitive  testimonies, 
and  pious  teachings  and  examples 
from  father  to  son  through  such  long 
generations.  Nevertheless  death 
reigned  from  Adam  to  Moses,  even 
before  the  law.  (Rom.  5  :  14.)  Adam 
lived  through  more  than  half  the 
period  from  the  creation  to  the 
Flood — which  was  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  fifty-six  years.  Of  the 
ten  persons  who  are  named  in  this 
list,  Enoch  lived  the  shortest  time, 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  years, 
and  then  he  was  translated.  The 
longest  life  was  that  of  Methuselah, 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years. 
From  the  death  of  Adam  till  the  call 
of  Abraham,  about  eleven  hundred 
years,  there  lived  such  as  Enoch, 


Methuselah,  Lamech,  Noah  and 
Shem,  and  Shein  survived  Abraham 
fifty  years.  The  historians  of  Egypt, 
Phenicia,  Babylonia  and  Greece  refer 
to  the  longevity  of  the  patriarchs  as 
here  given,  and  abundantly  sustain 
the  Biblical  account,  as  Joscphus 
triumphantly  shows.  (Ant.  B.  1:8, 
9.)  So,  also,  do  the  Chinese  annals. 
{Chine,,  par.  M.  Pauthier,  pp.  24-30  ; 
see  M.  DeOuignes)  Manetho,  and 
Berosus,  and  Mochus,  and  Hestieus, 
and  Hesiod,  etc.,  (says  Josephus)  re- 
late that  the  ancients  lived  a  thou- 
sand years. 

5.  And  he  died.  Here  begins  the 
solemn  formula  that  is  to  be  so  con- 
stantly repeated  in  the  history  of  the 
children  of  Adam.  Excepting  only 
the  case  of  Abel  whom  Cain  slew, 
and  whose  death  was  thus  violent 
and  unnatural,  the  first  record  of 
death's  doings  is  in  the  case  of  Adam 
himself,  whose  fall  brought  death 
into  the  world.  His  life  was  only 
thirty-nine  years  shorter  than  that 
of  Methuselah. 

6.  Seth.  This  is  he,  who  though 
begotten  in  the  likeness  and  image  of 
his  father  Adam,  was  the  ancestor  of 
the  church  line,  as  distinct  from  that 
of  Cain.  He  begat  Enos,  in  whose 
time  it  was  that  a  formal  separation 
took  place  between  the  people  of 
God  and  the  wicked  world.  But 
Seth  was  appointed  of  God — or- 
dained and  chosen  as  His. 

We  add  here  a  tabular  view  of  the 
generations  of  Adam  in  these  two 
distinct  branches — including  the  sev- 
enth generation  in  the  line  of  Cain, 
and  the  tenth  generation  in  the  line 
of  Seth. 

1.  Adam  and  Eve.  1.  Adam  and  Eve. 

2.  Cain     and     Abel,      2.  Seth. 
brothers. 


B.  C.  3777-3480.] 


CHAPTER  V. 


149 


7  And  Seth  lived  after  he  begat  Enos  eight  hundred  and  seven 
yoars,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters: 

8  And  all  the  days  of  Seth  were  nine  hundred  and  twelve 
years  ;  and  he  died. 

9  1"  And  Enos  lived  ninety  years,  and  begat  Cainan  : 

10  And  Enos  lived  after  he  begat  Cainan  eight  hundred  and 
fifteen  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters  : 

1 1  And  all  the  days  of  Enos  were  nine  hundred  and  five  years  ; 
and  he  died. 

12  1"  And  Cainan  lived  seventy  years,  and  begat  Mahalaleel : 

13  And  Cainan  lived  after  he  begat  Mahalaleel  eight  hundred 
and  forty  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters : 

14  And  all  the  days  of  Cainan  were  nine  hundred  and  ten 
years  ;  and  he  died. 

15  1"  And  Mahalaleel  lived  sixty  and  five  years,  and  begat 
Jared : 

16  And  Mahalaleel  lived  after  he  begat  Jared  eight  hundred 
and  thirty  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters  : 

17  And  all  the  days  of  Mahalaleel  were  eight  hundred  ninety 
and  five  years  ;  and  he  died. 

18  1"  And  Jared  lived  an  hundred  sixty  and  two  years,  and  he 
begat  x  Enoch : 

i  Jude  14  :  15. 


Cainites. 

3.  Enoch. 

4.  Irad. 

5.  Mehujael. 

6.  Methusael. 

T.  Lamech. 

8.  Jabal  (Adah)  Ju- 
bal,  Tubal  -  Cain, 
(Naamah.) 


Sethites. 

3.  Enos. 

4.  Cainan  —  Posses- 
sion. 

5.  Mahalaleel—  The 
praise  of  God. 

6.  Jared Conde- 
scension. 

7.  Enoch  —  Dedica- 
ted. 

8.  Methuselah. 


9.  Lamech. 
10.  Noah. 


We  have  seen  that  the  third  gen- 
eration was  distinguished  for  the 
more  formal  separation  of  the  godly 
in  the  time  of  Enos.  That  the 
next  three  generations  have  nothing 
of  special  interest  but  record  the 
genealogy  while  the  corruption  of 
the  age  was  on  the  increase,  and  the 
material  progress  seems  to  be  im- 
plied. In  the  seventh  generation  we 
have  the  development  of  evil  in  the 
polygamy  of  Lamech — and  of  piety 
/  in  the  history  of  Enoch.    Enoch  was 


"  the  seventh  from  Adam,"  {seven  be- 
ing the  sacred  number,  it  was  at  the 
sacred  distance,)  a  type  of  "  the  ful- 
ness of  the  time  "  when  the  redeem- 
ed church  shall  "  walk  with  God," 
(Rev.  3:4;  21  :  24.)  Enoch  lived  a 
year  of  years,  and  was  taken  up 
without  death  to  heaven.  In  the 
eighth  generation  Jabal  gave  an  im- 
pulse to  nomadic  life.  Jubal  be- 
came a  famous  master  and  inventor 
in  music — and  Tubal  Cain  in  metals. 
These  departments  of  industry  and 
discovery  advanced  together — as  is 
commonly  to  be   noticed — progress 

;  in  one  branch  stimulating  others. 
Here,  a:so,  human  life  had  its  fur- 

|  thest  development  in  Methuselah, 
so  far,  at  least,  as  we  have  any  rec- 
ord. The  ninth  generation  is  distin- 
guished by  the  predictive  name  given 
by  Lamech  to  his  son  Noah.  And 
the  tenth  generation — the  number  of 
completeness — Noah,  whose  name 
signifies  "rest"    appears — prefigur- 


150 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  3115-3115. 


19  And  Jared  lived  after  he  begat.  Enoch  eight  hundred  years, 
and  begat  sons  and  (laughters: 

20  And  all  the  days  of  Jared  were  nine  hundred  and  sixty  and 
two  years;  and  he  died. 

2 1  %  And  Enoch  lived  sixty  and  five  years,  and  begat  Methu- 
selah : 

22  And  Enoch  k  walked  with  God  after  he  begat  Methuselah 
three  hundred  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters: 

23  And  all  the  days  of  Enoch  were  three  hundred  sixty  and 
five  years : 

24  And  *  Enoch  walked  with  God,  and  he  was  not :  for  God 
took  him. 


k  ch.  6  :  9  ;  IT  :  1  ;  2  4  :  40  ;  2  Kings  20 : 
2:6.    12  Kings  2:  11;  Heb.  11  :  5. 


Ps.  16:8;  116 


128  : 1 ;   Mic.   6  ;  S  ;  Mai. 


ing  the  consummation — the  Ark  be- 
ing also  a  type  of  the  Christian 
church,  thus  prefiguring  the  rest  as 
well  as  the  security  and  safety  of  the 
church  in  the  last  days. 

21.  Methuselah.  Some  understand 
this  name  to  mean,  "  He  dieth,  and 
the  sending  forth," — and  they  take 
it  to  be  prophetic  of  the  flood — viz., 
that  at  his  death  the  flood  would 
come — which  was  the  case.  The 
great  preachers  of  this  antediluvian 
age  were  heads  of  families.  It  is  re- 
garded as  a  Divine  sanction  of  the 
marriage  state  that  even  Enoch,  in 
such  a  life  as  this,  walking  with 
God,  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

23.  Walked  with  God.  OnJc., 
walked  in  the  fear  of  God.  Syr.  and 
Sept.,  pleased  God.  Ar.,  walked  in 
the  service  of  God.  Ps.  Jon.,  served 
God  in  truth.  This  phrase  denotes 
personal  and  familiar  association — ■ 
in  the  habits  and  pursuits  of  life. 
Enoch,  as  we  learn  from  the  New 
Testament,  was  a  prophet,  and  in 
that  early  age  of  abounding  wicked- 
ness, foretold  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  to  j  udgment.  Overleaping  thus 
all  intervening  history,  he  stretched 
his  prophetic  vision  to  the  very  end 
of  time,  (Jude,  vss.  14-15.)  So  that 
the  doctrine  of  a  future  and  general 
judgment  was  thus  early  revealed 
to  men.  Besides,  in  what  followed, 
a  Divine  seal  was  set  upon  his 
preaching  by  his  removal  from  earth 


to  heaven  without  death — "for  be 
fore  his  translation  he  had  this  tes 
timony  that  he  pleased  God,"  (Heb 
11:5.)  Whether,  therefore,  his  trans- 
lation was  visible  or  not,  it  was  in 
keeping  with  other  Divine  testimo- 
nies which  he  had — and  it  was  a 
method  in  which  God  chose  most 
impressively  to  rebuke  the  material- 
ism of  that  wicked  age  and  to  reveal 
the  reality  of  another  world,  and  so 
to  confirm  his  preaching  of  coming 
judgment.  Plainly  it  was  the  tes- 
timony of  this  event  that  a  better  life 
could  be  hoped  for,  and  that  distinc- 
tions would  be  made  in  the  awards 
of  that  future  world. — even  between 
the  righteous,  and  "  according  to 
their  works."  The  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  was  also  involved  in 
the  preaching  of  Enoch — a  founda- 
tion truth  which  God's  ministers 
have  always  more  and  more  clearly 
unfolded.  Three  hundred  years  this 
godly  patriarch  kept  up  this  close, 
habitual  intercourse  with  God. 

24.  And  he  (was)  not— for  God 
took  him.  Sept.,  "  He  was  not  found, 
for  God  translated  him."  Ethiop., 
"For  God  translated  him  to  Para- 
dise." Ps.  Jon.,  "  For  he  was  taken 
away  and  ascended  into  heaven  by 
the  word  which  is  before  God."  He 
was  not,  means  plainly,  as  the  Sept 
has  well  rendered  it,  "he  was  not 
found," — "he  was  not  extant  in  the 
sphere  of  sense," — he  disappeared 


B.  C.  4228-3046.] 


CHAPTER  V. 


151 


25  ^[  And  Methuselah  lived  an  hundred  eighty  and  seven  years, 
and  begat  Laniech: 

26  And  Methuselah  lived  after  he  begat  Lamech  seven  hun- 
dred eighty  and  two  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters : 

27  And  all  the  days  of  Methuselah  were  nine  hundred  sixty 
and  nine  years ;  and  he  died. 

28  *[f  And  Laniech  lived  an  hundred  eighty  and  two  years,  and 
begat  a  son : 

29  And  he  called  his  name  Noah,  saying,  This  same  shall  com- 
fort us  concerning  our  work  and  toil  of  our  hands,  because  of  the 
ground  m  which  the  Lord  hath  cursed. 


m  ch.  3  :  IT  ;  4  :  11. 


vanished  from  human  sight,  when 
he  had  filled  only  half  the  common 
term  of  life.  The  apostle  (Heb. 
11 : 5,)  settles  the  fact  of  Enoch's 
translation  which  is  not  here  so 
clearly  expressed,  "By  faith  Enoch 
was  translated  that  he  should  not 
see  death,  (so  as  not  to  see  death,)  for 
before  his  translation,  (fiETadeneug.") 
It  was  a  well  authenticated  belief  of 
the  Jews.  All  the  Targumists  so 
understood  it.  «j[  For  God  took  him. 
The  Hebrew  verb  here  is  the  same  as 
is  used  to  express  the  translation  of 
Elijah,  (2  Kings  2  :  3,  5,  9,  10.)  The 
immortality  of  the  soul  is  plainly 
taught  in  this  passage.  The  only  nat- 
ural death  on  record  that  precedes 
this  translation  of  Enoch  is  that  of 
Adam.  Abel  died  by  violence — then 
Adam  by  natural  death — and  now 
Enoch  is  removed  without  death. 
Thus  life  and  immortality  were 
brought  to  light  as  fully  as  was  need- 
ful, or  possible  at  that  early  stage 
of  the  world's  history. 

Note. — To  Moses  was  granted  a 
similar  privilege — as  his  burial  by 
God  himself  in  an  unknown  grave 
was  probably  followed  by  an  almost 
immediate  resurrection,  as  he  ap- 
peared in  the  glory  of  the  resurrec- 
tion body  on  the  Mount  of  Transfig- 
uration, (Deut.  34  :  6  ;  Matt.  17  :  3.) 
The  privilege  of  translation  was  also 
granted  to  Elijah,  the  prophet — that 
so  in  each  of  the  Dispensations,  the 
Patriarchal,  the  Levitical,  and  the 
Prophetical,  there  might  be  a  lively 


type  and  example  of  the  future 
state. 

Note. — (1.)  During  this  seventh 
generation,  the  Chaldean  records,  as 
copied  by  Berosus,  testify  that  Alorus 
reigned  the  first  of  the  Antediluvian 
kings.  And  it  would  seem  from  the 
Biblical  narrative  that  about  this 
period  the  patriarchal  form  of  gov- 
ernment was  invaded  by  the  "  mighty 
men."  "  men  of  renown,"  who  then 
appeared.     (Harris,  p.  162.) 

(2.)  Mythological  inventions  of 
classic  heathenism  have  been  framed 
on  the  basis  of  this  and  such  like 
simple  historical  statements  of  God'a 
word,  while  these  are  the  remotest 
from  any  myth  or  legend  in  the 
brief,  compact  record,  giving  only 
the  fact. 

28.  Lamech — not  the  same,  of 
course,  as  the  polygamist  of  this 
name,  who  was  in  the  line  of  Cain. 
Adam  lived  till  Lamech  had  reached 
his  fifty-sixth  year. 

29.  Noah.  The  name  means  rest, 
comfort — and  an  explanation  is  given 
in  the  following  clause,  "  This  same 
shall  comfort  us," — the  verb  being 
used  here  which  is  kindred  to  the 
noun.  The  world  was  evidently 
growing  worse — and  with  the 
abounding  iniquity  human  misery 
was  increasing  at  an  awful  rate. 
The  curse  was  felt  even  in  the 
ground — and  the  husbandman  groan- 
ed under  it,  at  his  grievous  toils. 
Lamech,  either  because  in  the  tenth 
generation  he  looked  for  completion, 


152 


GENESIS. 


LB.  C.  2546-2451 


30  And  L.imech  lived  after  he  begat  Noah  five  hundred  ninety 
and  five  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters : 

31  And  all  the  days  of  Lamech  were  seven  hundred  seventy 
and  seven  years :  and  he  died. 

32  And  Noah  was  five  hundred  years  old:  and  Noah  begat 
11  Shem,  Ham,  °  and  Japheth. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

AND  it  came  to  pass,  a  when  men  began  to  multiply  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  daughters  were  born  unto  them, 


n  ch. 


.  ch.  10  :  21.    a  ch.  1 :  23. 


or  because  it  was  definitely  signified 
to  him  by  God,  hoped  in  this  son  for 
a  realization  of  the  promise  made  to 
Eve.  It  would  seem  that  this  must 
have  been  revealed  to  him  by  God, 
that  in  Noah  he  might  look  for  a 
Deliverer,  in  whom,  at  least,  in  part, 
the  first  promise  might  be  accom- 
plished, and  through  whom  present 
relief  would  be  enjoyed  from  the 
burdens  of  fallen  nature.  Noah  was, 
indeed,  to  be  a  new  head  of  the  hu- 
man family.  We  see  here,  too,  that 
they  already  began  to  seek  a  better 
country — to  sigh  for  rest.  This  was 
to  be  fully  realized  in  the  Coming 
One,  who  was  the  "  Son  of  God," 
and  in  whom  alone  the  world  has 
rest  and  peace. 

Note. — The  significance  of  names, 
as  we  find  it,  was  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  prominently  in  mind  those 
leading  Divine  truths  which  were 
thus  taught  for  long  generations. 

32.  Five  hundred.  Heb.,  the  son 
of  five  hundred  years — a  Heb.  idiom. 
The  record  here  given  that  Noah  was 
five  hundred  years  old,  and  begat, 
etc.,  is  not  necessarily  intended  to 
mean  that  he  begat  no  children  be- 
fore this — as  it  is  the  line  of  the 
faithful  that  is  traced  by  this  gene- 
alogy ;  and  as  there  were  two  classes 
now — the  church  and  the  world — 
the  children  would  naturally  become 
allied  to  one  or  the  other.  Nor  is  it 
meant  that  these  three  were  born  in 
this  order.  Shem  is  named  first  as 
being  of  the  faithful  hue  through 


whom  the  church  is  to  descend — 
himself  the  progenitor  of  Christ. 
Ham  is  counted  the  youngest — 
though  some  suppose  that  he  was 
born  between  the  other  two.  Ja- 
pheth was,  perhaps,  the  oldest,  though 
others  think  Shem  was  older  than 
he.  ( Smith's  Bib.  Die. ;  see  ch. 
4  :  21,  notes.)  Shem  means,  name, 
fame.  Ham  means  heat.  Japheth 
means  widespread,  enlargement. 

Observe. — It  seems  that  the  length 
of  human  life  before  the  deluge  was 
ten  times  its  present  average.  Hu- 
man physiology  founded  on  the  pres- 
ent data  of  man's  constitution,  may 
pronounce  upon  the  duration  of  his 
life,  supposing  the  data  to  be  the 
same.  But  it  cannot  fairly  affirm 
that  the  data  were  never  different 
from  what  they  are  at  present. 
There  was  the  primeval  vigor  of  an 
unimpaired  constitution  holding  out 
for  a  comparatively  long  period. 
There  was  the  growing  degeneracy, 
and  there  was  also  the  deterioration 
of  soil  and  climate  after  the  deluge, 
which  reduced  the  average  of  human 
life. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

§  21.    Climax   of   Antediluvian 
Wickedness.    Ch.  6  : 1-8. 

The  sacred  historian,  having  now 
given  us  the  godly  line  of  Seth  (ch. 
4 :  26,)  as  distinct  from  the  wicked 
and  alien  lineage  of  Cain — traces  the 


B.  C.  2567.] 


CHAPTER  VI. 


153 


2  That  the  sons  of  God  saw*  the  daughters  of  men  that  they 
toere  fair  ;  and  they  b  took  them  wives  of  all  which  they  chose. 

b  Dsut.  7  :  3,  4. 


growing  wickedness  of  men  as  it 
culminates  toward  the  deluge.  Thus 
we  see  that  man's  first  state  was  not 
that  of  the  savage,  gradually  becom- 
ing exalted  by  the  progress  of  society 
— but  that  he  was  first  exalted,  and 
became  afterwards  debased  by  sin. 
The  former  is  the  heathenish  view 
of  human  history,  which  the  Scrip- 
ture every  way  contradicts.  It  is 
probable  that  a  disappointment 
among  "the  sons  of  God,"  or  the 
church,  as  to  the  advent  of  the  Prom- 
ised Deliverer,  was  one  cause  of  the 
apostacy  which  is  here  recorded.  So 
2  Peter  3  :  3,  4. 

1.  Began  to  multiply.  The  term 
"began"  is  the  same  Hebrew  verb 
used  in  ch.  4  :  26,  where  some  read 
it  "profanely  began,"  as  the  word 
originally  means,  {niphal,  VVfi,  to  be 
'profane.)  Here  it  may  have  that 
sense,  or  at  least  it  may  carry  the 
idea  of  profane,  ungodly  increase,  as 
the  context  further  explains — for 
men  had  begun  to  multiply  long  be- 
fore this.  The  fact  that  daughters 
were  born  unto  them  is  here  given  to 
introduce  the  narrative  of  their  mar- 
riage relations,  (vs.  2.)  The  develop- 
ment of  iniquity  occurs  now  in  the 
family:  and  in  a  way  to  prevent 
the  godly  seed,  by  which  God  would 
build  up  His  church  in  the  world. 
He  has  always  propagated  His  church 
by  means  of  a  godly  posterity.  And 
this  great  principle  is  developed 
in  the  earliest  records  of  human  his- 
tory. The  church  was  at  first  in  the 
family  of  Adam.  There  there  was 
a  division — not  all  of  the  true  cov- 
enant seed,  through  whom  the  Prom- 
ised "  Seed "  was  to  come.  And 
here  it  is  shown  that  ungodly  mar- 
riages were  the  fruitful  source  of 
corruption  and  alienation  from  God. 
When  the  church  thus  allies  itself 
to  the  wicked  world,  it  is  a  profana- 
tion, which  is  called  by  the  prophets 
adultery.     So  the  Hebrews  were  for- 

1* 


bidden  to  intermarry  with  the  Ca- 
naanites.  And  this  matrimonial  alli- 
ance with  the  heathen  was  denoun- 
ced by  the  last  prophet  of  the  Jews 
as  the  grossest  adultery,  (Mai.  2  :  11.) 
MalacM  refers  plainly  to  this  prim- 
itive history,  setting  forth  the  great 
principle  of  God's  dispensation  in  all 
ages.  So  Paul,  in  his  letter  to  the 
Corinthians,  "  What  concord,"  etc., 
(1  Cor.  7:39;  2  Cor.  6:14.)  This 
relation  is  held  so  sacred,  (1.)  For 
God's  covenant  is  a  household  cove- 
mant,  and  (2.)  Marriage  is  the  beau- 
tiful figure  of  Christ's  relation  to 
His  church,  and  (3.)  As  He  is  the 
Promised  Seed,  so  the  seed  of  be- 
i  lievers  ought  always  to  be  holy. 
If  Daughters  were  born  unto  them. 
That  is,  the  profane  and  ungodly 
parents  had  daughters  born  unto 
them.  These  daughters,  of  course, 
as  the  next  verse  implies,  were  pro- 
fane— like  their  parents.  They  were 
such  as  the  people  of  God  should 
have  shunned  and  kept  separate 
from,  "  for  what  concord  hath  Christ 
with  Belial,"  (1  Cor.  7  :  14 ;  2  Cor. 
6  :  14-17.) 

2.  The  sons  of  God.  (1.)  Some  un- 
derstand this  of  "  men  of  rank,"  emi- 
nent persons,  as  "  trees  of  God,"  for 
majestic  trees,  etc.  So  Samar.  Jon. 
Ouk.  Symm.  Aben-Ezra,  etc.  But 
this  is  generally  abandoned.  (2.)  A 
second  view  understands  them  to  be 
angels  who  are  here  meant.  So 
some  of  the  most  ancient  fathers. 
And  the  passages  in  2  Pet.  2:4; 
Jude,  vss.  6,  7,  are  adduced  to  prove 
some  such  profane  intermingling  of 
fallen  angels  with  mankind.  So 
Kitto  understands  it.  But  Chrysos- 
tom,  Augustine,  Theodoret,  etc.,  for- 
cibly opposed  this  view,  and  exposed 
its  absurdity.  Those  moderns  who 
have  held  to  a  mythical  interpreta- 
tion of  these  early  records,  have  re- 
vived this  notion.  It  would  seem  to 
be  contrary  to  our  Lord's  description 


151 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2567 


of  the  angels,  (Matt.  22 :  30,)  i.  e., 
that  they  neither  many  nor  are  giv- 
en in  marriage.  Besides  the  sin  in 
snch  case  would  have  sprung  from 
the  angels,  not  from  men.  The 
phrase,  "  sons  of  God,"  is  used  of  an- 
gels in  Job;  but  not  the  same  exact- 
ly as  here.  In  Job  88  :  7  it  is  with- 
out the  article,  and  limited  by  the 
parallelism  of  the  sentence  —  the 
morning  stars — the  sons  of  God.  In 
other  passages  in  Job,  where  the  ref- 
erence is,  as  here,  to  the  pious,  in 
distinction  from  the  wicked,  it  is  ex- 
actly the  same  phrase  as  here,  *.  e., 
with  the  article,  (Job  1:6;  2:1.) 
But  (3.)  It  is  plain  from  the  context 
that  the  godly  are  here  called  "  sons 
of  God,"  in  distinction  from  the 
worldly  ;  as  already  the  descendants 
of  the  Seihite  line  had  been  distin- 
guished from  those  of  the  Cainite 
line.  The  fact  already  noted,  (ch. 
4 :  26,)  that  a  separation  had  taken 
place  in  the  public  worship  of  God, 
'''calling  on  the  name  of  Jehovah," 
would  prepare  us  for  some  such  pub- 
lic distinction  in  the  name  they  would 
bear.  And  observe  ;  "  the  entire  He- 
brew idiom  left  the  author  no  choice 
of  expression."  (See  ch.  5  :  32,  notes.) 
Just  as  the  early  disciples  came  soon 
to  be  called  "  Christians,"  after  the 
name  of  the  Master.  And  this  new 
name  they  received  at  Antioch  from 
the  lookers  on — the  Gentiles,  (Acts 
11 :  26 ;  see  Deut.  14 : 1 ;)  so  the  people 
of  God  are  called  "  the  sons  of  God," 
(John  1 :  12  ;)  1  John  3:1.  So  also 
Rom.  9  :  28  ;  Gal.  8  :  26.  %  Sato. 
The  fact  and  manner  of  the  declen- 
sion which  took  place  among  the 
people  of  God  are  here  set  forth. 
The  children  of  those  pious  Sethites 
iust  named  began  to  form  an  unholy 
union  with  the  wicked  world.  This 
gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  abound- 
ing iniquity,  for  it  introduced  degen- 
eracy into  the  church,  led  to  aposta- 
cies,  and  called  for  a  destruction  of 
the  race,  saving  only  one  pious  fami- 
ly. This  accords  with  the  analogy 
of  Scripture.  The  principle  is  a  vital 
one  in  God's  plan  for  His  church. 
See  Mai.  2  :  11,  14.     "  Did  not  He 


make  one,"  (not  two  created  from 
the  ground,  but  Adam  only,  and 
then  Eve  taken  from  Adam/ to  set 
forth  the  essential  unity  in  the  mar- 
riage relation.)  "  And  wherefore 
one  V  That  He  might  seek  a  godly 
seed,  (vs.  15.)  The  complaint  of  the 
prophet  against  the  church  was, 
"  Judah  hath  profaned  the  holiness 
of  the  Lord  which  he  loved,  and 
hath  married  the  daughter  of  a 
strange  god,"  (vs.  11.)  So  Hosea 
4  :  12  ;  5  :  3.  So  ch.  27  :  46 ;  28  :  1  ; 
Exod.  34:15,  16;  Deut,  7:3,  4; 
Num.  25  :  1  ;  1  Kings  11  :  1,  2. 
IT  Daughters  of  men.  As  in  vs.  1, 
the  multiplication  of  men  is  spoken 
of,  and  also  in  vs.  3,  this  passage 
plainly  refers  to  two  classes  of  man- 
kind, of  which  the  husbands  belonged 
to  one  class,  the  wives  to  the  other. 
These  are  not  necessarily  confined  to 
the  daughters  of  the  Cainite  line  ex- 
clusively, but  of  this  line  chiefly,  and 
so  of  this  class.  The  former  are  such 
as  those  of  whom  John  speaks  as 
"  sons  of  God,"  who  believe  on  His 
name,  and  describes  them  which 
were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the 
will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 
man,  hut  of  God,  (John  1.)  And  the 
latter  are  such  as  are  "  born  of  the  flesh, 
(John  3 :  6,)  and  which  are  "  flesh," 
in  contrast  with  such  as  are  "  born 
of  the  Spirit,"  and  are  spirit.  These 
are  of  the  natural  birth,  unregener- 
ate;  hence  called  "  daughters  of 
men"  such  as  the  Cainites.  "{  That 
they  were  fair,  (lit.,)  good.  These 
marriages  were  physical,  and  not 
founded  on  any  high  and  worthy 
considerations.  It  was  here  evident- 
ly "  the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  the  lust 
of  the  eye,  which  are  not  of  the  Fa- 
ther, but  of  the  world,"  (1  John 
2  :  16.)  Proceeding  on  such  a  carnal 
principle,  "  they  took  to  them  wives  of 
all  whom  they  chose  " — looking  no 
higher  than  to  their  own  carnal  grati- 
fication. This  low.  degrading  view  of 
marriage  is  the  root  of  family  degra- 
dation. So  it  is  among  the  heathen. 
Christianity  alone  has  elevated  the 
female,  and  dignified  and  sancti- 
fied marriage.     It  may  here  be  im- 


B.  C.  2567.] 


CHAPTER  VI. 


155 


3  And  the  Lord  said,  c  My  Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with 
man,  d  for  that  he  also  is  flesh :  yet  his  days  shall  be  an  hundred 
and  twenty  years. 


c  Gal.  5 :  16,  17  ;  1  Pet.  3 :  19,  20.     d  Ps.  TS  :  39. 


plied  also  that  tliey  took  niore  wives 
than  one,  as  they  pleased.  The  fam- 
ily disorganization  and  open  apostacy 
from  God  which  had  hitherto  been 
confined  to  the  descendants  of  Cain, 
now  gained  ground  among  the  pos- 
terity of  Seth.  Family  after  family 
was  founded  in  filial  insubordination 
and  disregard  of  the  law  of  God. 
What  could  be  expected  to  result 
from  marriages  which  were  thus 
based  upon  sensuality,  self-will,  and 
apostacy,  but  a  progeny  of  evil  ? 

3.  The  awful  crisis  was  thus 
brought  on.  God  appears  now  as 
speaking,  and  announces  His  deter- 
mination to  bring  His  controversy 
with  this  apostate  generation  to  an 
end.  ^[  My  Spirit  shall  not  always 
strive  with  man.  This  is  the  person- 
al Spirit — the  third  person  of  the 
Godhead,  (ch.  1 :  3.)  The  first  sense 
of  the  verb  rendered  strive  is  to  be  low, 
to  be  inferior.  Gesenius,  therefore, 
renders  it,  be  humbled.  If  so  under- 
stood, it  can  be  only  as  conveying 
the  idea  of  being  grieved — quenched — 
{trampled  on) — resisted,  as  elsewhere 
in  the  Scripture.  The  word  means 
also  to  strive,  contend.  From  the 
New  Testament  we  find  that  Christ 
"  went  and  preached  by  the  Spirit  to 
those  (who  are  now)  spirits  in  prison, 
who  aforetime  were  disobedient  in 
the  days  of  Noah,  etc.,  1  Pet.  3 :  19, 
20.  And  here  Jehovah  declares  that 
His  Spirit  shall  not  always  be  quench- 
ed in  men,  (or  strive  with  man.) 
The  verb  in  Eccles.  6  :  10,  is  akin  to 
this.  But  the  preposition  is  (d?) 
with,  instead  of  (^)  in,  as  here. 
Therefore,  as  the  original  sense  is 
intransitive,  Gesenius  gives  the 
meaning  to  be  humbled.  T[  For  that, 
etc.  This  clause  may  be  connected 
with  the  foregoing ;  and  instead  of 
being    an    unusual  combination  of 


three  particles,  it  would  seem  to  be 
a  preposition  with  a  verbal  infini- 
tive, and  the  pronominal  suffix ; 
meaning — in  their  aberratio-ns.  So 
V.  Gerlach.  Heb.  Fam.  Bib.  reads, 
"  Through  their  backslidings."  Gese- 
nius reads,  Because  of  their  erring s. 
God's  Spirit  had  wrought  with  men 
of  that  wicked  age  by  the  preaching 
of  such  as  Enoch  and  Noah,  and  by 
His  providence  and  their  conscience. 
And  yet,  in  their  departure  from  him, 
that  Spirit  was  quenched,  until  now 
He  declares  that  such  depraved  de- 
spite to  the  Spirit  of  His  grace  should 
not  always  be  borne.  He  would  set 
a  limit  to  men's  daring  wickedness, 
and  to  His  forbearing  kindness. 
This  has  always  been  His  method  of 
dealing.  It  was  so  with  Israel,  "  say- 
ing in  David  to-day,  after  so  long  a 
time  ;  as  it  is  said,  To-day,  if  ye  will 
hear  His  voice,  harden  not  your 
hearts."  Luther  understands  the 
passage  of  God's  work  by  the  minis- 
try of  the  prophets,  as  though  one  of 
them  should  say,  "  It  is  an  unbecom- 
ing thing  that  the  Spirit  of  God  who 
speaks  through  us  should  any  longer 
weary  Himself  in  reproving  the 
world.  It  is  now  added,  lie  (that  is 
man)  is  flesh — carnal — unspiritual. 
This  term  carries  with  it  the  idea  of 
debasement,  as  the  context  has  al- 
ready distinguished  the  "  sons  of 
God  " — those  of  the  divine  nature — 
from  "  the  daughters  of  men  " — the 
natural,  unregenerate  ones.  John, 
who,  also  with  Moses,  begins  with 
"  the  beginning,"  distinguishes  the 
"  sons  of  God  "  from  those  who  are 
" born  of  the  flesh"  and  are  "flesh," 
instead  of  being  "  born  of  the  Spirit," 
(John  3  :  6.)  This  is  the  New  Testa- 
ment sense  of  "flesh  "  and  "  fleshly," 
that  is  carnal,  Rom.  8.  A  perfect 
agreement  is  found,  therefore,  in  the 
terms  here  used  throughout.    We 


156 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2567 


4  There  were  giants  in  the  earth  in  those  days  ;  and  also  after 
that,  when  the  sons  of  God  came  in  nnto  the  daughters  of  men, 
and  they  bare  children  to  them  :  the  same  became  mighty  men, 
which  were  of  old,  men  of  renown. 


may  read,  "  My  Spirit  shall  not  al- 
ways be  humbled  in  man,  in  Ms  er- 
ring— he  is  flesh."  *ft  And  his  days 
shall  be,  etc.  Some  understand  that 
this  was  a  shortening  of  man's  ordi- 
nary lifetime.  Others,  and  more  prob- 
ably, regard  it  as  referring  to  the 
period  that  should  be  allowed  the 
race  for  repentance  before  the  flood 
should  sweep  away  the  wicked.  If 
so,  the  narrative  here  runs  back  to 
the  period  before  the  birth  of  Noah's 
sons.  So  says  V.  Gerlach.  None 
of  God's  greater  judgments  have  ever 
taken  place  without  a  time  for 
repentance  after  the  threatening. 
To  the  Ninevites  it  was  forty  days  ; 
to  the  Jews,  after  their  rejection  of 
Christ,  it  was  forty  years.  To  the 
Amorites  it  was  four  hundred  years, 
ch.  15 :  16.  Tuch,  Eicald,  Havernick, 
and  others,  understand  the  period 
here  named  as  the  limit  set  to  hu- 
man life.  While  the  antediluvian 
patriarchs  lived  from  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-seven  years  to  nine  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two  years,  not  includ- 
ing Enoch,  the  postdiluvian  patri- 
archs lived  from  one  hundred  and 
ten  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  years. 
Hengstenberg,  Delitsch,  Ranke,  and 
the  Jewish  interpreters  understand 
it  of  the  space  given  for  repentance, 
(2  Pet.  2:5;  Heb.  11 :  7.) 

4.  There  were  giants;  lit.,  The 
NephUim  were  (had  been)  in  the 
earth,  (the  land)  in  those  days — also, 
after  that  the  sons  of  God  went  in 
unto  the  daughters  of  men,  etc.,  i.  e., 
there  were  men  of  that  kind  in  those 
days  —  well-known  men,  of  giant 
stature  and  force,  defiant  and  con- 
trolling ;  and  after  these  mixed  mar- 
riages, the  progeny  were  of  this 
sort — the  mighty  men  which  were  of 
old — men  of  renown.  The  Nejjhilim, 
rendered  "  giants,"  are,  literally,  the 
fallen,  or  those  who  fall  upon,  or  vio- 
lently assault   others.     So  Aquila, 


"  attackers."  Some  of  those  who  un- 
derstand this  narrative  to  be  of  the 
angels,  read  it,  apostates.  The  Sept. 
and  Vulg.  read  giants;  Onk.  and 
Samar.,  mighty  ones;  Sy mm.,  power- 
ful ones.  Moses  here  shows  the 
prevalent  corruption.  1.  From  the 
apostacy  of  the  pious  race  in  their 


carnal    associations. 


"rorn    the 


wide  spread  violence,  which  was  even 
increased  by  reason  of  this  wicked 
alliance  referred  to.  The  bodily 
strength  of  this  ungodly  progeny  is 
mentioned.  The  NephUim,  it  would 
seem,  are  a  class  referred  to,  as  well 
known,  who  arose  in  those  days — 
such  as  breathed  the  spirit  of  Cain 
and  Lamech,  and  were  already  fore- 
shadowed and  represented  in  them. 
And  the  progeny  of  this  ungodly  al- 
liance gave  rise  to  the  Gibborim — 
mighty  men — such  as  Nimrod,  who 
is  called  Gibbor,  ch.  10 :  8 ;  men  of 
name— fame — renown.  The  ancient 
mythology,  based  mainly  on  scatter- 
ed traditions  of  these  events,  and  on 
distant  traces  of  these  inspired  an- 
nals, represents  the  giants  as  sprung 
from  the  earth,  and  warring  with 
the  gods,  and  being  overcome,  they 
were  buried  in  the  earth  by  the 
mountains  and  rocks  being  piled 
upon  them ;  and  that  earthquakes 
occur  from  their  struggles  to  get  re- 
lease. The  NephUim  are  referred  to 
in  other  passages,  and  rendered  "  the 
dead,"  in  Prov.  9:18;  21:16,  and 
"  unto  death,"  Prov.  2  :  18, — the  con- 
text referring  to  the  carnal  lust  by 
which  the  rebels  before  the  flood 
perished.  These  were  men  of  re- 
nown— often  referred  to  in  the  most 
ancient  traditions.  And  so  also  they 
have  found  their  way  into  the  an- 
cient mythologies.  Havernick  under- 
stands NephUim  to  mean  great 
(giant,)  but  better  understand  the 
term  to  mean  fallen  ones — apostates. 
In  these  roving  plunderers  (and  assaS' 


B.  C.  2507.] 


CHAPTER  VI. 


157 


5  %  And  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  in 
the  earth,  and  that  every  e imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his 
heart  was  only  evil  continually. 

6  And  f  it  repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man  on  the 
earth,  and  it  s  grieved  him  at  his  heart. 


e  ch.  8:21;  Deut.  29 :  19  ;  Prov.  6  :  18  ;    Matt.  15  :  19.     f  See  Num.  23  :  19  : 
29  ;  2  Sam.  24:  16  ;  Mai.  3 ;  6  ;  Jam.  1 :  17.    g  Isa.  03  :  10 ;  Eph.  4 :  30. 


1  Bam.  15:  11, 


sins  perhaps)  as  well  as  in  the  wan- 
dering habits  of  the  followers  of  Ja- 
bal,  the  sentence  was  fulfilled  against 
Cain — "  A  fugitive  and  a  wanderer 
shalt  thou  be  in  the  earth/'  ch. 
4:12. 

5.  God  is  now  introduced  as  be- 
holding and  contemplating  this 
abounding  and  high-handed  iniqui- 
ty. This  is  to  show  the  notice 
which  God  takes  of  human  conduct, 
and  especially  that  He  does  not  act 
without  knowledge  and  considera- 
tion. This  abounding  iniquity  He 
saw  in  its  true  light — as  it  really 
was — that  it  was  great  in  the  earth. 
Sept.,  That  the  wickednesses  were  mul- 
tiplied. So,  everywhere  in  the  Scrip- 
ture, God  is  spoken  of  as  looking 
down  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the 
earth  to  take  note  of  their  ways — to 
see  if  there  were  any  that  did  under- 
stand— that  did  seek  Gcd,  (Ps.  5  :  19  ; 
14  :  2.)  God  saw  also  every  fabrica- 
tion of  the  thoughts  (or  purposes)  of 
his  heart,  only  evil  all  the  day.  This 
was  the  condition  of  the  human  race. 
"  Their  mind  was  so  thoroughly  im- 
bued with  iniquity  that  the  whole 
life  presented  nothing  but  what  was 
to  be  condemned."  The  language  is 
most  full,  and  exclusive  of  all  good  or 
right  affection.  Not  only  the  wicked- 
ness of  action,  but  of  heart ;  and  not 
only  so,  but  every  fabrication  of  the 
thoughts  of  the  heart  Avas  evil,  only 
evil,  and  only  evil  continually. 
There  could  be  no  stronger  language 
to  express  the  absolute  and  utter  de- 
generacy of  the  species.  And  this 
was  man  in  a  natural  state — as  fall- 
en. Only  such  as  Noah  was  an  ex- 
ception, and  he  was  a  new  creature — 
a  child  of  God.  "The  obstinacy  of 
the  men  who  had  greatly  abused  the 


goodness  of  God  is  condemned  in 
these  words  ;  yet  at  the  same  time 
the  true  nature  of  man,  when  de- 
prived of  the  grace  of  the  Spirit,  is 
clearly  exhibited."  Calvin.  (1.)  The 
wickedness  was  great  (abundant  and 
gross.)  (2.)  It  was  internal  and  uni- 
versal— "every  fabrication  of  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart."  (3.)  It  was 
total — "  only  evil."  (4.)  It  was  hab- 
itual and  persevering  "  continually." 
6.  It  repented.  "  The  repentance 
here  ascribed  to  God  does  not  prop- 
erly belong  to  Him,  but  has  refer- 
ence to  our  understanding  of  Him." 
— Calvin.  The  change  in  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  dealing  with 
these  sinners  was  such  as  among 
men  would  be  •  ascribed  to  repent- 
ance. It  was  as  though — to  use  hu- 
man language — God  had  repented  of 
making  man.  This  phraseology 
strongly  expresses  also  the  deep 
grief  which  is  felt  by  the  loving 
heart  of  God.  And  the  feelings 
which  sin  excites  in  the  Divine  mind 
are  represented  in  Scripture  after  a 
human  fashion — grief,  anger,  hatred, 
repentance — though  these  exercises 
are  infinitely  beyond  those  which 
are  found  in  creatures.  We  under- 
stand what  is  meant,  and  these  terms 
are  used  to  make  it  intelligible  to  us. 
See  Num.  23  :  19  ;  1  Sam.  15  :  10,  11. 
Of  course  God  cannot  change.  And 
what  seems  to  us  a  repenting  cf  His 
former  course,  is  only  a  change  in 
His  visible  procedure ;  yet  always 
exercising  the  same  unchangeable 
attributes — "  without  variableness  or 
shadow  of  turning,"  Jas.  1:17;  Mai. 
3:6.  *j[  And  it  grieved  Him  at  Bis 
heart ;  lit.,  He  grieved  Himself  to  His 
heart.  God's  love  of  what  is  holy, 
and  nis  pleasure  in  it,  necessarily 


158 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2567. 


7  And  the  Lord  said,  I  will  destroy  man  whom  I  have  created 
from  the  face  of  the  earth ;  both  man  and  beast,  and  the  creep- 
ing thing,  and  the  fowls  of  the  air ;  for  it  repenteth  me  that  I 
have  made  them. 

8  But  h  Noah  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord. 

h  ch.  19 :  19  ;  Exod.  S3 :  12,  13,  16,  IT  ;  Luke  1  :  30  ;  Acts  7  :  46. 


implies  His  displeasure  and  grief  at 
what  is  wicked ;  so  that  He  is  said 
to  be  angry  (with  the  wicked)  every 
day,  (Ps.  7: 11.)  Here  the  verb  is  in 
the  reflexive  form,  and  means  He 
grieved  Himself.  The  Holy  Spirit  is 
said  to  be  grieved  when  that  is  done 
which  would  provoke  His  withdraw- 
ment.  "  It  may  be  said  that  God  is 
offended  with  the  atrocious  sins  of 
men,  as  if  they  wounded  His  heart 
with  a  deadly  grief." — Calvin. 

7.  The  Lord  said.  Lit.,  Jehovah 
said.  The  awful  judgment  denoun- 
ced upon  the  wicked  world  by  God 
is  here  set  forth  as  the  result  of  ma- 
turest  counsel,  and  based  on  the 
purest  principles.  God  has  just  now 
been  represented  as  repenting  and 
grieving  Himself  at  having  made 
man,  and  what  is  here  narrated  is 
only  another  mode  of  expressing  the 
same  thing.  God,  in  His  infinite 
holiness,  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  hostile  to  such  wickedness. 
He  could  not  but  punish  it  and  ban- 
ish it  from  His  presence.  Men  often 
argue  that  God  is  bound  to  save  all 
His  creatures  because  He  has  made 
them.  Here  it  is  shown  that  such 
sin  in  creatures  is  the  most  flagrant, 
and  that  men,  because  they  are  His 
creatures,  are  all  the  less  excusable 
in  their  sin.  (See  Isa.  27  :  11.)  «[  i" 
will  destroy.  Lit.,  will  wipe  away — 
blot  out,  (2  Kings  21  :  18.)  When 
one  is  led  to  destroy  what  he  has 
created,  it  can  only  be  when  it  has 
proved  itself  utterly  unfit  to  be  pre- 
served. The  interest  of  the  Creator 
in  His  creatures  cannot  be  small. 
He  surely  will  not  destroy  what  He 
has  created  except  it  be  necessary. 
*![  Both  man  and  least.  Lit.,  From 
man  unto  beast.  But  why  need  the 
lower    animals  be    destroyed    with 


man.  Because  they  are  involved 
with  him  in  his  standing  before  God 
— as  they  are  under  His  dominion — 
and  they  are  the  lower  creation  of 
which  he  is  the  head  and  crown. 
Besides  this  gives  a  most  impressive 
exhibition  of  the  dreadful  evil  of 
sin  in  the  world.  The  whole  crea- 
tion is  cursed  with  man.  And  the 
whole  creation  will  share  with  man 
in  the  glorv  and  jov  of  his  redemp- 
tion, (Rom.  8  :  21,  22,  23.) 

8.  But  Noah.  There  is  always  "  a 
remnant  according  to  the  election  of 
grace,"  (Rom.  11  :  5.)  Even  in  those 
most  degenerate  times,  when  the 
whole  world  had  become  so  bold  in 
sin,  there  was  a  godly  man — the  head 
of  a  godly  family,  whom  God  would 
save  from  the  coming  destruction. 
T"  Found  grace,  etc.  This  phrase 
means, "  found  acceptance  with  God." 
"  Grace,"  in  the  Scripture,  commonly 
signifies  "free  favor."  And  it  was 
because  of  the  grace  of  God  that 
Noah  found  grace  with  Him.  The 
New  Testament  informs  us  that  it 
was  by  faith  in  the  plan  of  grace 
that  Noah  was  led  to  such  distin- 
guished piety  and  perseverance, 
(Heb.  11  :  7.)  It  was  by  Divine 
grace  that  he,  a  poor  sinner  by  na- 
ture, found  acceptance  with  God,  and 
thus  he  became  heir  of  the  righteous- 
ness which  is  by  faith,  (Rom.  11  :  6.) 
Noah  is  also  called  a  "  preacher  of 
righteousness,"  (2  Peter  2  :  5.)  The 
grace  of  God  in  men  leads  to  gra- 
cious conduct.  This  free,  unmerited 
favor  of  G  od  to  sinners  where  it  is  ap- 
prehended and  embraced  leads  them 
to  gratitude,  and  to  a  grateful  obedi- 
ence. Noah  is  said  to  have  been 
"  moved  with  fear  "  in  the  building 
of  an  ark.  But  it  should  be  noted 
that  the  Greek  term  thus  rendered 


B.  C.  2567.] 


CHAPTER  VI. 


159 


9  T  These  are  the  generations  of  No:\h  :  'l  Noah  wa^  a  just 
man,  arid  perfect  in  his  generations,  ancles  oa\\  b  walked  with  God. 


i  ch.  7  :  1 ;  Ezek.  14  :  14,  20.     k  ch.  5  :  22. 


means,  "actuated  by  a  spirit  of 
piety " — which  is,  indeed,  a  godly, 
filial  fear,  (Heb.  11 :  7.)  And  faith 
wrought — wrought  with  his  works 
— as  in  the  case  of  Abraham — and 
"  by  works  was  faith  made  per- 
fect," (Jas.  2  :  22.)  And  the  principle 
of  the  Divine  economy  is  that  "  with- 
out faith  it  is  impossible  to  please 
God,"  or  to  "  find  grace  in  His  eyes." 
This  statement  prepares  us  for  the 
narrative  that  follows  of  all  the  dis- 
tinguishing favor  shown  to  Noah  in 
His  preservation  and  salvation. 

Note. — The  great  promise  of  "  the 
seed  of  the  woman  "  to  come,  who 
should  be  victorious  over  the  powers 
of  evil,  was  so  far  from  having  yet 
been  fulfilled  that  there  seemed  to 
be  a  triumph  of  the  kingdom  of  evil 
in  the  world.  One  godly  man,  with 
his  family,  stands  as  a  witness 
against  the  prevailing  iniquity — and 
a  pledge  of  some  better  things  to 
come.  Meanwhile  Noah  was  to  be- 
come the  second  head  of  the  race, 
and  as  such,  a  type  and  shadow  of 
the  Coming  One — the  builder  of  an 
ark  for  the  salvation  of  his  house, 
by  which,  also,  he  condemned  the 
world. 

This  verse  ends  the  first  'par ash, 
or  section  of  the  law.  In  the  Sab- 
bath readings  in  the  Jewish  syna- 
gogues they  divided  the  Pentateuch 
into  fifty-four  sections  called  Par- 
sliioth,  answering  to  the  number  of 
Sabbaths  in  the  Jewish  intercalary 
year,  and  made  to  answer  for  the 
common  year,  by  reducing  two  sec- 
tions to  one.  This  method  complet- 
ed the  reading  of  the  law  during  the 
year,  commencing  with  Genesis  on 
the  first  Sabbath  after  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles,  which  was  the  closing 
feast  of  the  year.  So  we  find  that 
in  Paul's  time,  and  from  of  old, 
Moses  was  read  in  the  synagogues 
every  Sabbath  day,  (Acts  15  :  21.) 
When  the  reading  of  the  law  was 


forbidden  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
they  read  sections  from  the  prophets 
instead  ;  and  when  after  that  perse- 
cution they  had  liberty  again,  they 
combined  the  Law  and  the  Prophets, 
reading  sections  from  both,  (Acts 
13  :  15.) 

§  21.  a.  Line  of  Noah — Flood 
Threatened  —  Noah  Directed 
to  build  the  Ark.    Ch.  6  : 9-22. 

9.  At  this  point  the  particular  his- 
tory of  Noah  is  taken  up.  He  is 
now  to  appear  as  the  leading  charac- 
ter— and  the  formula  is  the  same  as 
before.  ^[  These  are  the  generations. 
The  same  term  as  is  applied  to  the 
heavens,  etc.,  (ch.  2  :  4,)  and  to  Adam, 
(ch.  5:1,)  and  means  births,  issues, 
with  special  reference  to  the  geneal- 
ogies— and  whatever  concerns  him 
personally,  and  domestically — in  the 
immediate  connexions.  ^  A  just 
man.  Noah  is  the  first  person  in 
the  Scriptures  who  is  so  called — a 
just  man  —  righteous.  Jesus  is 
"  that  just  One"  (Acts  22  :  14.)  "  The 
just  shall  live  by  his  faith,"  (Hab. 
2  :  4.)  So  Noah  was  just  by  his  faith 
by  which  he  became  heir  of  the 
righteousness  which  is  by  faith," 
(Heb.  11 :  7.)  1  Perfect  in  his  gene- 
rations— among  his  contemporaries. 
He  was  a  most  eminent  specimen  of 
piety  in  that  degenerate  age.  This 
does  not  mean  that  he  was  sinless, 
or  that  he  was  just  in  the  sense  of 
having  no  impurities  or  faults  of 
character.  But  he  was  godly  among 
the  godless  world— and  this  prepares 
us  for  the  narrative  of  God's  signal 
mercies  towards  him.  "  There  is 
not  a  just  man  upon  earth,  that  doeth 
good  and  sinneth  not,"  (Eccles.  7 :  20.) 
The  sense  of  "perfect,"  in  Paul's 
Epistles,  is  "mature,"  full-grown,  in 
contrast  with  the  state  of  "  babes  "  in 
the  Divine  life.  Noah,  as  a  "  pieacher 
of  righteousness,"  one  who  published 


160 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2546 


10  And  Noah  begat  three  sons,  *  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth. 

11  The  earth  also  was  corrupt  m  before  God;  and  the  earth 
was  n  filled  with  violence. 

12  And  God  °  looked  upon  the  earth,  and  behold,  it  was  cor- 
rupt: for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth. 

1  ch.  5  :  32.  m  ch.  7  :  1  ;  10  :  9  ;  13  :  13  ;  2  Chron.  34 :  21;  Luke  1:6;  Rom.  2  :  13  ;  3  :  19. 
a  Ezek.  8  :  17 ;  28  :  16 ;  Hab.  2  :  8,  17.  o  ch.  18  :  21 ;  Ps.  14 :  2 ;  33  :  13,  14 ;  53  ;  2,  3. 


and  urged  upon  men  tlie  only  true 
righteousness  which  is  by  faith — did 
not  claim  to  be  a  man  of  sinless  per- 
fection. He  put  his  simple  trust  in 
God's  promise — looked  for  the  Com- 
ing Seed,  as  the  Great  Divine  Deliv- 
erer—  he  saw  and  embraced  the 
promises  and  confessed  that  he  was 
a  pilgrim  and  stranger  upon  the 
earth,  "declaring  plainly  that  he 
sought  a  home,  (rcaTpida:)  "  We  are 
complete  in  Him  :  Of  His  fulness  we 
receive,"  (see  John  1 :  16.)  Thus  Noah 
walked  with  God,  as  Enoch  did,  had 
his  fellowship  with  the  Father,  and 
with  His  Son  Jesus  Christ,  (1  John 
1:3.)  It  has  been  held  by  some 
modern  writers  that  the  faith  of  the 
patriarchs  was  only  a  general  trust 
in  God's  providence,  according  to  the 
knowledge  of  their  time;  and  that 
it  was  not  in  any  proper  sense  a 
faith  in  Christ.  But  Christ  had  been 
promised.  They  believed  in  Him. 
And  the  New  Testament  is  particu- 
lar to  show  that  theirs  was  a  Christ- 
ian faith — a  faith  in  the  Promised 
Seed.  And  Christ  Himself  declares 
that  Abraham  saw  His  day  and  was 
glad,  (John  8  :  56.)  Especially  does 
Paul,  in  the  Hebrews,  show  that  the 
patriarchs,  and  all  the  Old  Testa- 
ment worthies,  had  the  Christian 
faith,  (Heb.  ch.  11.) 

10.  It  is  here  again  recorded  that 
Noah  begat  three  sons,  (ch.  5  :  32.) 
Shem  is  named  first,  as  being  (not 
the  oldest,  but)  the  head  of  the 
sacred  line — through  whom  the  Me- 
siah  was  to  come  with  all  His  bless- 
ings. 

11.  A  general  statement  is  here 
made  as  to  the  universal  corrupt  ion 
among  men.  This  is  introductory 
to  the  account  of  the  delude.     This 


has  already  been  given  in  substance. 
*[  The  earth  also.  Rather,  And  the 
earth  was  corrupted.  The  whole  hu- 
man family  in  all  the  inhabited 
earth  was  in  a  state  of  moral  corrup- 
tion, as  is  expressed  in  the  next 
verse,  "  All  flesh  had  corrupted  his 
way  upon  the  earth," — (the  same 
word.)  When  it  is  said  that  this 
was  before  God,  it  is  meant  that  it 
was  open,  heaven-daring.  *|"  And 
the  earth  was  filled  with  violence. 
Sept.,  injustice.  This  accords  with 
all  the  foregoing  narrative.  In  the 
spirit  of  Lamech,  the  Cainite,  and  in 
the  character  of  the  Nephilim,  and 
of  the  "  mighty  men  of  renown,"  the 
race  had  become  more  and  more 
abandoned — the  corruption  display- 
ed itself  in  all  forms  of  violence — 
until  the  earth  was  filled  with  stripes, 
oppressions,  murders  and  outrages, 
which  called  for  the  Divine  judg- 
ments, in  mercy  to  the  human  fam- 
ily. Note. — .All  this  desperate  ini- 
quity had  its  special  impulse  in  such 
family  corruption  as  polygamy  and 
carnal  alliances,  which  polluted  the 
race  at  the  fountains.  "When  the 
marriage  relation  was  profaned  by 
taking  a  plurality  of  wives — then 
murder  grew  bold  and  daring,  and 
claimed  to  be  protected,  as  in  La- 
mech. And  when  marriage  was  con- 
tracted without  the  fear  of  God,  and 
according  to  mere  carnal  principles 
then  domestic  piety  was  banished 
from  the  earth.  The  single  contrast 
was  in  the  solitary  case  of  Noah  and 
his  pious  house !  And  God  puts  dis- 
tinguished honor  upon  this  eminent 
example  of  steadfast  family  piety. 
He  saves  him  and  his  house. 

13.  God  took  note  of  this  state  of 
things.  In  Ps.  14  and  53,  the  Psalmist 


B.  C.  2567.] 


CHAPTER  VI. 


161 


13  And  God  said  unto  Noah,  P  The  end  of  nil  flesh  Ts  come 
before  me  ;  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through  them  : 
<l  and  behold,  I  will  destroy  them  with  the  earth. 

p  Jer.  51  :  13 ;   Ezek.  T  :  2,  3,  6 ;   Amos  8  :  2 ;  1  Peter  4:7.     q  vs.  17. 


well  describes  this  condition  of  man- 
kind. And  God  is  represented  as 
looking  down  to  see  if  there  was  any 
exception  to  the  prevailing  wicked- 
ness, (Ps.  14  :  2.)  ^[  All  flesh  had  cor- 
rupted his  way.  The  whole  race 
had.  grown  corrupt  in  conduct  and 
practice.  "They  are  corrupt/'  (Ps. 
14  :  1.)  "  They  are  all  gone  aside,"— 
("  out  of  the  way.")  "  They  are  alto- 
gether become  filthy,"  (Ps.  14  :  3  ; 
53  :  3.) 

13.  God  now  declares  His  purposes 
of  judgment  in  view  of  this  univer- 
sal crime.  ^  An  end  of  all  flesh  is 
come  before  me.  Sept.,  A  season — a 
crisis — not  rsTio^,  but  naipog.  This  is 
the  warning  with  which  God  pre- 
faces to  Noah  His  declarations  of 
judgment,  and  His  directions  of 
mercy.  How  startling  must  have 
been  this  announcement  to  Noah ! 
The  awful  iniquity  could  not  longer 
be  borne.  The  period  of  long-suffer- 
ing (one  hundred  and  twenty  years,) 
was  to  that  generation  only  as  nine 
years  would  be  to  men  of  our  time. 
During  this  interval  Noah  was  "  a 
preacher  of  righteousness,"  warning 
the  wicked  race  of  the  judgment 
that  would  surely  come  from  God. 
How  long  he  was  engaged  in  build- 
ing the  ark  does  not  appear.  It 
would  seem  from  the  New  Testament 
that  the  ark  was  preparing  during 
the  one  hundred  and  twenty  years, 
(1  Peter  3  :  20.)  Noah  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  remarkable  example  of 
faith  in  the  list  of  Old  Testament 
worthies,  (Heb.  11  :  7.)  The  whole 
world  against  him — the  six  score 
years  to  continue  at  his  work,  and 
in  his  conflict  with  the  ungodly, 
while  as  yet  no  symptoms  of  the 
flood  appeared — the  simple  word  of 
God  to  rest  upon;  his  faith  ridiculed 
and  scoffed  at,  as  most  unreasonable, 
silly,  and  contrary  to  all  experience. 


;  ^[  Behold  I  will  destroy  them.    The 
verb  here  used  is  the  same  as  is  sev- 
eral times  used  before,  and  rendered 
corrupt,  and  means  also  to  destroy, 
1  (Hiphil.)      The    corruption    of   the 
world  referred  to,  was  most  destruc- 
[  tive  and  ruinous.     And   God  only 
gives  them  up  to  their  self-destruc- 
j  tion  when  He   sweeps   them  away 
!  from  the  earth.     Behold  I  am  cor- 
j  rupting  them.      The  same  term  is 
used  of  God's  destructive   work  as 
j  was  used  of  their  corrupting  and 
j  destructive  works — to  show  the  con- 
,  nexion  between  the  two — as  if  it 
}  were  said,  As  they  have  given  theni- 
I  selves  up  to  this  universal  corrup- 
|  tion,  so  I  will  cause  their  corruption 
to  seize  upon  them  in  all  its  bitter 
fruits — and  thus  "  destroy  them  that 
destroy  the   earth," — (Gr.,)    corrupt 
them  which  corrupt  the  earth,  (Rev. 
11  :  18.)     God's  retributive  justice  is 
this,  to  give  men  up  to  sin  in  its 
bitter  power  and  penalty,  to  experi- 
ence its  awful  consequences  forever. 
T  With  the  earth.    (See  vs.  7.)    All 
the  animal  tribes,  and  the  fair  face 
of  the  earth  were  to  be  overwhelmed 
with  this  judicial  destruction.     This 
language  implies  that  great  geolog- 
ical changes  were  produced  by  the 
deluge.     Who  can  tell  what  tremen- 
dous agencies  are  indicated  by  the 
expressions,  "  All  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  were  broken  up," — "  The 
windows  of  heaven  were  opened." 

The  universality  of  the  deluge 
seems  to  be  clearly  taught  in  the 
narrative,  and  confirmed  by  other 
passages  of*  Scripture,  Gen.  7  :  4,  23. 
"Every  living  substance  was  de- 
stroyed which  was  upon  the  face  of 
the  ground,  both  man  and  cattle; 
and  the  creeping  things,  and  the 
fowl  of  the  heavens,  and  they  were 
destroyed  from  the  earth.  And 
Noah  alone  r<  mained  alive,  and  they 


162 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  256? 


that  were  with  him  in  the  ark,"  ch. 
7 :  21-23.  "  The  flood  came  and  de- 
stroyed them  all,"  Luke  17  :  27 ;  Matt, 
24  :  37-39.  "  God  spared  not  the  old 
icorld,  but  saved  Noah,  the  eighth  per- 
son— a  preacher  of  righteousness — 
bringing  in  the  flood  upon  the  world 
of  the  ungodly,"  2  Pet.  2:5.  Be- 
sides, it  is  recorded  that  the  waters 
prevailed  exceedingly  on  the  earth, 
and  all  the  high  hills  that  were  un- 
der the  whole  heaven  were  covered ; 
fifteen  cubits  upwards  did  the  wa- 
ters prevail,  and  the  mountains 
were  covered,"  ch.  7  :  19,  20  ;  8  :  5. 
It  is  objected  that  this  height  of  fif- 
teen cubits  above  the  tops  of  the 
highest  mountains  (five  miles  high) 
would  require  a  greater  quantity  of 
water  by  far  than  is  contained  in  all 
the  seas  and  oceans  of  the  earth. 
But  the  water  of  the  globe  is  to  the 
land  in  the  proportion  of  three-fifths 
to  two-fifths,  and  there  is  no  natural 
impossibility  as  to  the  sufficiency  in 
the  different  seas  and  lakes  for  cov- 
ering the  whole  earth.  And  the 
whole  earth  might  have  been  sub- 
merged for  a  twelvemonth,  as  stated 
here,  or  even  for  a  much  longer  pe- 
riod, without  any  trace  of  such  sub- 
mersion being  now  discernible.  Be- 
sides, this  objection  takes  for  granted 
that  the  mountains  were  as  high  be- 
fore the  deluge  as  since,  when  (1) 
some  of  the  high  mountain  ranges 
were  probably  thrown  up  as  a  result 
of  the  deluge.  And  (2.)  The  face  of 
the  earth  may  have  been  otherwise 
changed  in  connexion  with  the  del- 
uge, so  as  that  high  mountain  ranges 
may  have  been  depressed,  and  the 
sea-beds  may  have  been  elevated,  to 
accomplish  this  result  of  overflowing 
the  earth.  (3.)  The  objection  pro- 
ceeds on  the  false  assumption  that 
God  could  not  have  produced  the 
deluge ;  as  it  claims,  also  that  He 
could  not  have  created  the  earth  in 
six  natural  days,  and  could  not  have 
produced  the  chaos.  It  admits  no 
miracle  in  the  case,  and  demands 
that  these  great  effects  must  be  ac- 
counted for  by  second  causes,  that 
are  natural,  instead  of  preternatural. 


But  admitting,  as  we  do.  that  God 
can  and  does  work  miracles,  the  ob- 
jection is  set  aside.  Nay,  admitting, 
as  they  must  do,  that  geology  and  all 
natural  science  attests  the  fact  of 
miracles,  and  of  miracles  such  as 
these  convulsions  and  deluges,  and 
their  objection  falls,  even  on  their 
own  ground.  Could  God  produce 
water  enough  for  such  a  universal 
deluge  is  the  question. 

2.  It  is  objected  that  such  an  in- 
creased mass  of  water,  as  is  reckoned 
to  be  necessary  for  the  deluge,  would 
alter  the  action  of  gravity  upon  the 
earth,  and  the  nutation  of  the  axis. 
This  also  proceeds  on  the  assump- 
tion that  God  could  not  do  it. 

3.  It  is  further  objected  as  to  the 
capacity  of  the  ark — that  it  was  not 
large  enough  for  all  the  species  oi 
animals  and  living  tribes ;  but  this 
has  been  disproved  by  accurate  cal- 
culations. 

4.  That  the  animals,  belonging  to 
different  zones,  could  not  all  have 
been  preserved  alive  in  the  same  at- 
mosphere or  climate.  But  every 
menagerie  and  zoological  garden  dis- 
proves this,  where  tropical  animals 
and  those  of  most  northern  latitudes 
subsist  in  the  same  climate. 

5.  As  to  the  difficulty  of  gathering 
the  food  for  so  many,  it  is  simply  the 
difficulty  which  God  is  supposed  to 
have- had  in  provisioning  this  house 
of  His  —  this  ark  of  salvation  —  as 
though  He  has  not  always  bread 
enough,  and  to  spare.  As  though 
He  would  give  the  order  for  ail  to 
enter,  and  then  shut  them  in  with- 
out providing  food  sufficient. 

6.  But  it  is  farther  objected  that 
trees  have  been  found,  whose  age,  as 
ascertained  by  their  rings,  must  be 
greater  than  the  deluge  of  Noah. 
For  example,  a  tree  of  tropical  Afri- 
ca, calculated  by  the  rings  of  its 
trunk  to  be  five  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  years  old,  which, 
it  is  alleged,  could  not  have  lived 
under  the  waters  of  the  deluge 
during  a  hundred  days.  But  it 
has  been  discovered  by  Dr.  Carpen- 
ter in  the  West  Indies  that  tropical 


B.  C.  2567.] 


CHAPTER  VI. 


1G3 


trees  shed  their  leaves  two  or  three 
times  in  a  year ;  and  that  these  rings 
or  circles  in  the  formation  of  the 
trunk  are  formed  by  the  check  of 
vegetation  at  the  shedding  of  the 
leaves,  and  are  not  annual  layers,  as 
was  formerly  j  udged.  This  of  course 
would  reduce  the  age  of  these  trees 
— the  Boabab,  an  African  tree,  and 
the  Taxodiivm,  a  Mexican  tree — at 
least  by  one  half.  This  objection  is 
thus  providentially  answered. 

7.  How  the  animals  could  have  so 
spread  after  the  flood  is  queried.  To 
this  PHchard  replies  that  a  partial 
creation  of  animals  probably  took 
place  after  the  flood ;  and  in  favor 
of  this,  he  adduces  the  fact  that 
fresh  creations  have  marked  every 
new  geological  epoch.  It  has  been 
quite  too  hastily  assumed  that  there 
have  been  no  creations  on  earth 
since  the  sixth  day.  Agassiz  truly 
remarks  that  "  since  man  has  existed 
upon  the  earth  no  appreciable  change 
has  taken  place  in  the  animal  or 
vegetable  world."  But  this  does  not 
by  any  means  forbid  the  belief  that 
there  may  have  been  a  re-creation  of 
the  same  species  as  were  destroyed 
in  the  deluge. 

8.  A  further  objection  is  urged 
from  the  cones  of  volcanoes,  as  of 
Etna,  where  the  cinders  and  dust, 
which  it  is  calculated  must  be  older 
than  the  deluge  of  Noah,  would 
have  been  washed  away  by  it,  but 
which  show  no  traces  of  the  deluge. 
This  is  argued  especially  from  the 
volcano  of  Auvergne  and  Dauphine 
in  the  centre  of  France,  which  it  is 
held  could  not  have  had  an  eruption 
since  Europe  was  peopled,  because 
there  is  no  tradition  of  such  an  event. 
And,  moreover,  that  the  geological 
formations  between  different  layers 
of  lava,  and  the  wearing  of  river 
courses  through  great  depths  of  the 
rocky  substance,  prove  a  far  longer 
antiquity  than  the  deluge  of  Noah. 
But  these  may  have  been  volcanic  in 
a  previous  geological  period  of  our 
earth,  and  afterwards  may  have  be- 
come submarine  volcanoes,  and  being 
upheaved  again  when  the    deluge 


subsided,  they  may  have  resumed 
their  action.  This  would  account 
for  most  of  the  phenomena,  But  (1.) 
These  volcanoes  may  have  had  erup- 
tions since  the  time  of  the  deluge 
without  any  extant  record  or  tradi- 
tion of  the  event.  (2.)  The  loose  dust 
that  now  forms  these  volcanic  cones 
may  have  become  light,  as  it  now  is, 
by  the  disintegration  of  atmospheric 
agency  during  so  long  a  period,  while 
at  the  time  of  the  deluge  it  may 
have  been  much  more  solid,  like  the 
lumps  of  lava  that  form  the  sides 
below ;  especially  the  carbonic  acid 
gas  which  issues  from  these  volcanic 
districts,  softens  and  dissolves  the 
rock. — Lyell.  (3.)  It  is  maintained  on 
good  authority  that  there  are  historic 
traces  of  such  eruptions  in  the  years 
458-460,  a.  d.,  and  that  the  rogation 
days  in  the  ritual  of  the  English 
church  were  instituted  by  the  Bishop 
of  Vienne,  and  are  a  commemoration 
of  these  catastrophies. 

9.  It  is  admitted  by  all  geologists 
that  there  have  been  successive  del- 
uges, and  that  every  geological  epoch 
is  marked  by  such  an  event.  But  it 
is  contended  by  some  that  the  last 
convulsion  and  overflow  was  ante- 
rior to  man's  creation,  because  hu- 
man bones  or  fossils  are  not  found 
in  any  strata  of  earlier  date,  and  be- 
cause no  remains  of  human  works 
have  been  found  in  such  pre-Adamic 
strata.  "No  deluge,  therefore,  de- 
stroyed a  wicked  and  disobedient 
race  of  men,"  says  Kalisch.  But  just 
now  these  very  geological  authori- 
ties are  clamoring  about  the  alleged 
discovery  of  such  human  fossils,  and 
remains  of  human  works  in  strata, 
or  caves  or  gravel-beds  along  with 
the  remains  of  extinct  mammalia, 
and  are  claiming  therefore  that  they 
have  found  traces  of  pre-Adamic 
man.  But  if  it  can  be  proved  that 
they  have  found  human  fossils  in 
such  geological  quarters,  then  the 
strongest  objection  which  they  have 
hitherto  urged  against  the  fact  of 
the  deluge  of  Noah,  and  its  univer- 
sality, together  with  the  mighty  geo- 
logical changes  which  were  former]  y 


164 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  256" 


referred  to  that  event,  is  set  aside, 
and  thus  they  contradict  their  own 
theories.  Especially  they  show  us 
that  their  theories  are  so  liable  to 
change  from  new  discoveries,  that 
they  cannot  be  relied  on.  "Who 
can  tell  what  fossils  may  yet  be 
found  in  ocean-beds  ?"  they  say. 
True.  And  what  if  human  remains 
are  found  there?  Yet  their  argu- 
ment is  based  on  the  mere  negative 
evidence — the  absence  of  human  re- 
mains in  the  tertiary  beds,  while  so 
small  a  portion  of  the  geological 
field  has  yet  been  explored.  If  they 
find  such  tertiary  human  remains, 
they  are  bound,  by  their  own  theo- 
ries, rather  to  admit  not  only  the 
universality  of  the  deluge,  but  all 
that  was  claimed  by  the  deluge  the- 
ory in  accounting  for  the  geological 
formations. 

1.  Universal  tradition  points  not 
only  to  a  deluge  during  the  human 
period,  but  to  the  deluge  of  Noah's 
time.  See  "Bryant's  Analysis  of 
Ancient  Mythology"  "  Harcourt's 
Doctrine  of  the  Deluge"  etc. 

The  ark,  the  dove,  the  rainbow  are 
all  incorporated  with  the  traditions. 
The  medal  struck  in  the  reign  of 
Philip  the  Elder  in  the  city  of  Apa- 
mea,  represents  a  square  box  afloat 
on  the  water,  with  a  man  and  wom- 
an inside,  and  also  two  birds  and  an 
olive  branch,  and  the  name  Noe  on 
the  box.  Hindu  traditions,  as  well 
as  Chaldean,  and  Greek  and  Ameri- 
can, all  agree  even  in  the  leading 
details  of  the  flood,  so  as  to  call  for 
this  historical  basis. 

2.  To  argue  from  the  alleged  find- 
ings of  geological  science  that  the 
deluge  of  Noah  must  have  been  lo- 
cal, and  confined  to  a  narrow  dis- 
trict of  country,  is  to  sink  the  plain 
Scripture  record  below  the  indistinct 
and  partially  explored  and  poorly 
understood  record  of  the  rocks.  For 
if  the  waters  rose  fifteen  cubits 
above  the  highest  mountains  of  the 
then  inhabited  countries,  their  level 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  make 
the  deluge  universal.  Kalisch  main- 
tains that  such  interpreters  "  violate 


all  the  rules  of  a  sound  philology, 
distort  the  spirit  of  the  language, 
and  disregard  the  dictates  of  com- 
mon sense."    Introduction,  p.  144. 

3.  A  volume  of  water  thirty  feet 
above  the  top  of  Ararat,  (which,  ac- 
cording to  Parrot,  is  sixteen  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  fifty-four  feet 
high,)  and  which  prevailed  for  al- 
most a  year,  must  have  found  its 
equilibrium,  and  thus  covered  the 
face  of  the  whole  globe.  According 
to  the  calculation  of  Lilienthal,  the 
quantity  of  water  necessary  to  cover 
the  surface  of  the  earth  to  the  height 
of  a  mile  above  the  level  of  the  sea 
is  only  equal  to  the  two  hundred  and 
seventy-second  part  of  the  volume  of 
the  earth.  See  Kurtz.  Partialists 
compute  that  there  were  at  the  time 
of  the  deluge  about  four  millions  of 
inhabitants  on  the  globe. 

4.  But  if  the  flood  was  not  univer- 
sal, but  local,  where  did  it  take  place 
exactly  —  over  what  amount  of  ter- 
ritory ?  Hugh  Miller  and  others  ar- 
gue that  it  was  local,  on  the  ground 
that  in  such  case  "the  necessity  for 
preserving  all  the  species  of  animals 
in  the  ark  disappears.  For  in  the 
first  place  there  was  nothing  to  pre- 
vent the  birds  and  many  of  the  large 
mammals  from  getting  away,  and 
in  the  next,  the  number  of  specie3 
peculiar  to  that  geographical  area, 
and  which  would  be  absolutely  de- 
stroyed by  its  being  flooded,  sup- 
posing they  could  not  escape  is  in- 
significant." And  thus  the  deluge 
itself  is  made  "  insignificant"  Pe- 
Towne  (in  Smith's  Bib.  Diet.)  "Noah  " 
argues  that  "  unless  we  suppose  that 
a  stupendous  miracle  was  wrought, 
we  must  believe  that  the  flood  ex- 
tended only  over  a  limited  area  of 
the  globe."  But  we  do  suppose  such 
a  miracle  was  wrought.  This  is  the 
plain  impression  which  the  Biblical 
narrative  gives. 

5.  But  if  all  the  language  which 
seems  so  universal,  refer  only  to 
what  is  local,  and  the  deluge  did 
not  cover  "the  whole  earth,"  then 
we  must  regard  God's  covenant  with 
Noah,  sealed  by  the  rainbow,  where 


B.  C.  2567.] 


CHAPTER  VI. 


165 


1 4  ^|  Make  thee  an  ark  of  gopherwood  ;  rooms  shalt  thou  make 
in  the  ark,  and  shalt  pitch  it,  within  and  without,  with  pitch. 


this  same  phrase  occurs,  as  referring 
only  to  that  locality,  wherever  it 
was  ;  and  we  have  no  covenant  that 
there  shall  not  be  a  deluge  to  drown 
this  continent,  and  other  continents 
and  localities  not  included  in  Noah's 
deluge.  But  who  believes  that  to  be 
the  meaning  of  the  Scripture  ? 

6.  Besides,  if  the  passage  in  Peter 
refers  to  the  destruction  at  the  del- 
uge, as  is  most  generally  understood, 
though  it  would  seem  perhaps  more 
forcibly  to  refer  to  the  chaos,  (see  In- 
troduction, p.  46,)  then  it  is  distinct- 
ly said  that  the  Jcosmos  (world)  that 
then  teas,  perished ;  and  this  is  not 
the  oikoumene — the  inhabited  world 
— but  the  Jcosmos — the  world  itself, 
of  creatures  and  products,  (2  Pet. 
3  :  5-8.)  Though  most  of  those  who 
advocate  a  partial  and  local  deluge 
understand  it  to  be  altogether  con- 
sistent with  the  Biblical  narrative, 
yet  we  adhere  to  the  more  obvious 
meaning  of  the  record,  until  it  is 
clearly  disproved. 

7.  It  would  seem  to  be  conclusive 
that  as  the  passage  in  Peter  predicts 
a  deluge  of  fire  analogous  to  the  del- 
uge of  waters,  so  we  cannot  under- 
stand it  in  either  case  of  any  other 
than  a  universal  deluge.  "  The 
heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a 
great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall 
melt  with  fervent  heat — the  earth 
also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein 
shall  be  burned  up,"  2  Pet.  3  :  10. 
This  surely  cannot  mean  a  local  and 
partial  destruction.  Even  Golenso 
admits  that  "mathematical  and  phys- 
ical science  forbid  our  believing  in  a 
partial  deluge,  such  as  some  have 
supposed,  since  that  involves  an  uni- 
versal flood."  Page  18,  Vol.  2.  But 
it  is  held  by  this  last  writer  that  the 
narrative  is  not  historical.  And  to 
this  it  is  sufficient  to  reply  that  it 
manifestly  claims  to  be  history,  and 
nothing  else ;  that  to  deny  its  his- 
torical character,  is  in  effect  to  deny 
the  whole  Bible  history — nay,  more, 


it  is  to  deny  the  authority  and  di- 
vinity of  Jesus  Christ  himself,  who 
gives  His  explicit  sanction  to  the 
historical  truth  of  the  narrative, 
Matt.  24 :  37.  Compare  Luke  17  :  26. 
But  this  would  be  more  incredible 
than  any  thing  found  in  the  narra- 
tive. Many  who  hold  to  a  partial 
deluge,  understand  that  such  a  view 
is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  Bib- 
lical terms,  in  that  the  expressions 
are  universal  only  in  reference  to  the 
earth  as  inhabited  at  the  time.  One 
of  the  latest  writers  on  the  subject 
(Peroicne)  admits  that  "  a  universal 
deluge  cannot,  on  geological  grounds 
alone,  be  pronounced  impossible," 
though  he  holds  that  "  there  is  other 
evidence  conclusive  against  it,  mira- 
cle apart."  The  difficulty  which  this 
school  of  writers  find  is  in  admitting 
a  miracle.  And  the  tacit  concession 
also  is,  that  to  those  who  can  believe 
in  a  miracle — that  is,  in  an  extraor- 
dinary interposition  of  the  Almighty 
— there  is  no  difficulty  at  all  in  the 
narrative. 

14.  Make  thee  —  to,  or  for  thee. 
^|  An  a?'Jc.  The  term  here  used  is 
not  the  word  for  an  ordinary  ship, 
but  rather  for  a  vessel  without  mast 
and  rudder — being  intended  only  for 
a  "floating  structure.  The  word  is 
tebhah — a  tub — or  chest.  See  Exod. 
2  :  3,  used  of  Moses'  ark  of  bulrushes. 
The  ark  of  the  covenant  was  also  a 
hollow  chest,  though  the  term  for 
that  is  different  in  the  Heb.,  but  the 
same  in  the  Greek.  ^[  Gopherwood  ; 
lit.,  of  trees  of  Gopher — planks  or 
timbers  of  Gopher  ;  which  was  prob- 
ably a  general  term  for  resinous  or 
pitchy  timber.  If  the  term  were  the 
common  designation  of  a  particular 
tree,  it  would  not  have  been  the  plural 
form.  Some  understand  it  to  be  the 
cypress,  as  there  is  an  affinity  in  the 
letters  of  the  wordgopher,  (Gr.  Jcupar,) 
others,  the  cedar  or  juniper  ;  but  it 
may,  and  most  probably  does  include 
all  these.    This  resinous  wood  was 


166 


GENESIS. 


[B  C.  2567. 


15  And  this  is  the  fashion  which  thou  shalt  make  it  of:  The 
length  of  the  ark  shall  be  three  hundred  cubits,  the  breadth  of  it 
fifty  cubits,  and  the  height  of  it  thirty  cubits. 

16  A  window  shalt  thou  make  to  the  ark,  and  in  a  cubit  shalt 
thou  finish  it  above  ;  and  the  door  of  the  ark  shalt  thou  set  in  the 
side  thereof:  with  lower,  second,  and  third  stories  shalt  thou 
make  it. 


to  be  used  as  it  would  not  rot,  nor  be 
liable  to  worm-eating.  This  latter 
was  the  chief  injury  done  to  timber, 
which  made  it  very  insecure  for 
building.  It  is  still  the  case  in  Pal- 
estine, that  the  worms  perforate  such 
timber  as  is  not  resinous,  and  heavy 
beams  are  soon  eaten  by  them  so 
secretly,  that  the  houses  are  liable 
to  fall  in.  Therefore  Solomon  was 
so  particular  to  use  the  cedar  of 
Lebanon  for  the  temple.  And  this 
wood  is,  on  this  account,  very  scarce 
and  costly.  "  Pine  forests,"  says  Col. 
Chesney,  ''abound  in  Armenia.  Cy- 
press groves  abound  there."  Among 
the  Mohammedans  they  are  selected 
for  cemeteries.  ^[  Rooms.  The  word 
means  cells  —  stalls  —  small  apart- 
ments :  elsewhere  (twelve  times)  in 
the  Scripture  uniformly  rendered 
nests — as  here  in  the  margin — lodg- 
ing 'places.  See  Obad.  4.  ^[  Pitch  it. 
The  word  is  that  which  is  the  basis 
of  our  English  word  cover,  and  here 
plainly  means  to  smear.  Lit.,  it 
reads,  Smear  it  with  a  smearing. 
Some  bituminous  coating  was  to  be 
applied  to  the  wooden  vessel,  both 
inside  and  out,  so  that  it  would  turn 
the  water,  and  would  harden,  so  as 
to  be  impervious.  The  Sept.  uses 
here  the  term  asphaltum. 

15.  And,  etc.,  lit.,  and  this  which  thou 
shalt  make  it.  Thou  shalt  make  it 
this,  thus,  after  this  fashion.  *[  Three 
hundred  cubits.  Winer  makes  the 
Mosaic  cubit  equal  to  nineteen  and 
a-half  of  our  inches.  Bockh,  and  oth- 
ers, make  it  nearly  two  inches  more. 
Thenius  is  judged  most  correct,  as 
his  cubit  agrees  best  with  those 
found  on  the  Egyptian  monuments. 
He  holds  the  dimensions  to  have 
been,  in  round  numbers,  four  hun- 


dred and  seventy-seven  feet  long, 
seventy-nine  feet  broad,  and  forty- 
seven  feet  high.  Others  make  it 
five  hundred  and  forty-seven  feet 
long,  by  ninety-one  feet  two  inches 
wide,  and  forty-seven  feet  two  inches 
high.  Reckoning  the  cubit  at  1.8 
feet,  we  find  the  length  to  be  about 
five  hundred  and  forty  feet,  the 
breadth  ninety  feet,  and  the  height 
fifty-four  feet.  The  Great  Eastern 
is  six  hundred  and  eighty  feet 
long,  (six  hundred  and  ninety-one 
on  deck,)  eighty-three  feet  in 
breadth,  and  fifty-eight  feet  in  depth 
— thus  longer  and  deeper.  Tide 
shows  that  it  was  sufficiently  large 
to  receive  all  those  animals  which 
were  to  be  preserved  in  it,  that 
it  contained  three  million  six  hun- 
dred thousand  cubic  feet — and  reserv- 
ing nine-tenths  for  the  victualling 
department,  and  assigning  fifty-four 
cubic  feet  to  every  species — each  pair 
of  animals  —  there  was  room  for 
nearly  seven  thousand  different 
species.  The  structure  was  made, 
not  for  sailing  purposes,  but  for 
freight.  Fishes,  worms,  and  in- 
sects were  not  received  into  the  ark. 
Dr.  Hales  has  estimated  that  it  was 
a  vessel  of  about  forty-two  thou- 
sand tons  in  capacity.  It  has  been 
proved  that  these  proportions  are 
admirably  fitted  for  the  greatest 
amount  of  tonnage,  but  not  for 
sailing. 

16.  A  icindmv.  This  term,  used 
in  the  dual  number,  means  noon- 
day light,  and  it  is  commonly  render- 
ed in  the  singular,  "  noon,"  and  no 
where  else  "window."  Junius  and 
Tremellius  render  this  in  the  singu- 
lar, a  clear  light.  Heb.  Fam.  Bible 
reads,  A  transparency.    It  is  quite  a 


B.C.  2567.] 


CHAPTER  VI. 


167 


17  r  x\ncl  behold,  I,  even  T,  do  bring  a  flood  of  waters  upon 
the  earth,  to  destroy  all  flesh,  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life,  from 
under  heaven  :  and  every  thing  that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die. 

18  But  with  thee  will  I  establish  my  covenant:  and  s  thou 
shalt  come  into  the  ark,  thou,  and  thy  sons,  and  thy  wife,  and  thy 
sons'  wives  with  thee. 

19  And  of  every  living  thing  of  all  flesh,  l  two   of  every  sort 


rvs.  13;  ch.  7  :  4,  21,  22, ' 
t  ch.  7,  8,  9,  15,  16. 


13;  2  Peter  2:5.    s  ch.  7  :  1,  7,  13  ;  1  Peter  3  :  20  ;  2  Peter  2:  5. 


different  word  from  that  rendered 
window.,  (ch.  8  :  6,)  and  which  Noah 
is  said  to  have  opened.  It  seems  to 
have  been  a  sky-light  of  some  un- 
known transparent  substance  for  the 
admission  of  light.  ^[  In  a  cubit,  etc. 
This  must  be  understood  to  be  a 
direction  for  raising  the  roof  of  the 
ark  in  the  middle,  so  as  to  form  a 
gentle  slope  for  turning  off  the  water. 
The  feminine  suffix  makes  it  refer 
to  the  ark,  and  not  to  the  window. 
"  The  cubit  is  possibly  the  height  of 
the  parapet  round  the  lighting  and 
ventilating  aperture.  The  opening 
occupied  probably  a  large  portion  of 
the  roof,  and  was  covered  during  the 
rain  with  an  awning,  (mikseh,  Gen. 
8  :  13,")  which  was  removed  by 
Noah.  An  entrance  was  to  be  made 
in  the  side  of  the  ark — and  there 
was  no  need  of  more  express  direc- 
tion about  it.  It  was  this  door  by 
which  the  Lord  shut  Noah  in,  ch. 
7  :  16.  ^[  Lower,  etc.  These  three 
terms  are  in  the  plural.  The  word 
"  stories  "  is  not  expressed,  but  seems 
to  be  understood.  Lit.,  Underneath, 
middle  and  upper  (stories,)  thou  shalt 
make  it.  It  is  impossible  for  us 
from  these  few  data  to  arrive  at  the 
exact  structure  of  the  ark.  But  it 
was  no  house  set  in  a  boat  as  the 
pictures  commonly  give  it.  It  was 
designed  as  a  float,  not  as  a  sailing 
vessel. 

17.  God  now  declares  his  object  in 
the  erection  of  this  vessel,  I,  behold 
I  am  bringing  the  flood.  It  is  refer- 
red to  as  the  flood,  by  eminence,  or 
as  that  already  mentioned  to  Noah. 
The  end  to  be  accomplished  by  the 
flood  is  stated — to  destroy  all  flesh. 


It  was  to  be  a  universal  destruction 
of  living  creatures  from  off  the 
face  of  the  earth,  excepting  only  the 
remnant  who  should  be  saved  in  the 
ark.  Murphy  calculates  that  the 
population  of  the  earth  at  the  time, 
was  less  than  four  millions.  The 
bloody  stains  of  murder  were  to  be 
washed  out,  such  as  appear  in  La- 
mech,  who  boasts  his  impunity  in 
defiant  song.  The  deluge  occurs 
not  by  natural  laws,  but  by  direct 
interposition  of  the  Creator.  It  is 
to  be  explained  not  by  natural  phil- 
osophy, but  by  the  word  of  Go£. 
^  In  the  earth.  This  clause  excludes 
fishes,  whose  domain  is  in  the  wa- 
ters. The  deluge  was  brought  on 
the  whole  world  as  a  punishment  of 
man's  siu,  (Rom.  8  :  22.) 

18.  But  itith  thee.  Here  is  the 
gracious  provision  for  saving  a  rem- 
nant— according  to  the  election  of 
grace.  It  was  all  of  grace,  God  cov- 
enanting with  Noah,  to  save  him  and 
his.  This  covenant  was  a  household 
covenant.  It  has  always  been  God's 
plan  to  propagate  and  transmit  His 
church  by  means  of  a  pious  poster- 
ity. His  church  is  the  same  in  all 
ages,  only  under  different  outward 
dispensations.  By  this  announce- 
ment Noah  was  animated  to  .obedi- 
ence in  his  most  tedious  and  difficult 
task — and  thus  his  faith  was  exer- 
cised in  God  as  a  Covenant  God. 
There  were  eight  persons  in  all — 
Noah,  his  wife,  their  three  sons  and 
their  wives,  (1  Peter  3  :  20.) 

19.  Directions  are  here  given  as  to 
the  lower  animals  which  he  should 
take  with  him  into  the  ark.  Pairs 
of  each  he  should  take  to  preserve 


183 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2567. 


shalt  thou  bring  into  the  ark,  to  keep  them,  alive  with  thee :  they 
shall  be  male  and  female. 

20  Of  fowls  after  their  kind  and  of  cattle  after  their  kind,  of 
every  creeping  thing  of  the  earth  after  his  kind ;  two  of  every 
sort  u  shall  come  unto  thee,  to  keep  them  alive. 

21  And  take  thou  unto  thee  of  all  food  that  is  eaten,  and  thou 
shalt  gather  it  to  thee ;  and  it  shall  be  for  food  for  thee,  and  for 
them. 

22  w  Thus  did  Noah ;  x  according  to  all  that  God  commanded 
him,  so  did  he. 

u  ch.  7,  9, 15  ;  see  ch.  2  :  19.    vr  Het>.  11:7;  see  Exod.  40  :  10.    x  cb.  7  :  5,  9,  16. 


tlie   species   alive.     The  number  is 
given  in  ch.  7  : 2. 

20.  Shall  come  unto  thee.  All  the 
animals  had  been  brought  to  him  be- 
fore, (ch.  2  :  19.)  It  seems  here  to  be 
intimated  that  the  reptiles  even 
should  come  to  Noah  by  some  extra- 
ordinary impulse.  No  insects  nor 
worms  were  included.  All  the  varie- 
ties may  be  referred  to  species,  and 
-  the  species  now  claimed  as  belong- 
ing to  a  genus  may,  perhaps,  be  re- 
duced in  numbers.  Space,  we  have 
seen,  was  afforded  by  the  area  of  the 
ark  for  nearly  seven  thousand  spe- 
cies. Many  objections  have  been 
raised  against  the  assembling  of  an- 
imals from  all  quarters  of  the  earth* 
into  one  place.  But  we  need  not 
suppose  that  any  differences  of  cli- 
mate existed  then — and  if  there  did, 
it  was  surely  in  the  power  of  God  to 
assemble  the  animals,  as  easily  as 
He  could  assemble  the  waters  for  the 
deluge.  Besides,  we  know  not  how 
widely  these  animals  had  spread. 
Some  have  sought  to  explain  it  by 
supposing  that  the  deluge  was  only 
partial,  and  not  universal,  (see  vs. 
13,  notes.)  More  than  a  thousand 
species  of  mammalia — and  fully  five 
thousand  species  of  birds  are  alleged 
to  exist.  In  Johnson's  Physical  At- 
las, (1856,)  the  number  of  species  of 
mammalia  is  given  as  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  fifty-eight.  Of 
birds,  the  number  of  species  reckoned 
by  Lesson  is  six  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-six.  Of  reptiles  six 
hundred  and  forty-two  are  reckoned 


by  Chas.  Bonaparte.  The  clean  ani- 
mals alone  have  been  computed  at 
one  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  individuals,  supposing  that  seven 
of  each  species  was  taken.  But  even 
if  we  could  not  see  how  the  stowing 
of  these  creatures  took  place,  it  is 
much  easier  to  infer  that  there  are 
particulars  which  we  do  not  know, 
or  cannot  appreciate,  than  to  deny 
the  plain  statement  of  the  Scripture. 
Some  suppose  that  a  partial  new 
creation  of  animals  took  place  after 
the  flood.  The  various  continents 
were  probably  connected  at  the  first, 
and  this  would  allow  of  their  migra- 
tion to  the  ark  from  all  quarters. 
The  food  could  the  more  easily  be 
collected,  as  the  deluge  occurred  in 
the  second  month  of  the  year,  in 
Autumn. 

22.  Here  is  the  power  of  Noah's 
faith.  In  so  gigantic  an  undertak- 
ing, against  such  a  world  of  opposi- 
tion, in  the  face  of  all  natural  appear- 
ances Noah's  faith  achieved  the  work. 
It  produced  a  simple,  earnest  obedi- 
ence to  the  Divine  command  in  all 
things.  Thus  his  faith  wrought 
wonders.  Noah  is  a  hero  in  history. 
"  I  admire,"  says  Chrysostom,  "  the 
virtue  of  this  just  man,  and  the  un- 
speakable mercy  of  the  Lord,  when 
I  consider  how  he  was  able  to  live 
among  the  wild  beasts,  having  had 
conferred  on  him  that  former  dignity 
of  man  which  the  animals  acknowl- 
edg-ed  and  obeyed."  The  apostle's 
comment  in  the  Hebrews  is  full  of 
force.    (1.)  Noah  did  this  great  work 


B.  C.  2447. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

AND  the  Lord  said   unto  Noah,   a  Come   thou   and    all  thy 
house  into  the  ark:  for  b  thee  have  I  seen  righteous  before 
me  in  this  generation. 


a  vs.  7,  13  ;  Matt.  24  :  38  ;  Luke  17  :  26  ;  Heb.  11 :  7 
6:9;  Ps.  33  :  18,  19  ;  Prov.  10  :  9  ;  2  Peter  2  :  9. 


1  Peter  3  :  20 ;   2  Peter  2:5.    b  cb. 


by  faith— in  God's  word,  and  in  God 
Himself,  and  in  God's  standing  prom- 
ise of  a  Messiah  to  come.  (2.)  He 
was,  also,  "  moved  with  fear," — that 
fear  of  God  which  is  filial,  not  ser- 
vile, and  which    leads  to   cheerful 


obedience.  (3.)  The  result  of  this 
was  "  the  saving  of  his  house,"  and 
the  condemnation  of  an  ungodly  and 
disbelieving  world,  and  his  own  heir- 
ship of  that  righteousness  or  justifi- 
cation, which  is  by  faith  alone. 


PART  III. 

From  the  Flood  to  the  Covenant  with  Abraham, 


CHAPTER  VII. 

§  22.    The  Flood — The  Ark.    Ch. 
7  : 1-24. 

The  long  period  of  warning  and 
preparation  had  now  nearly  passed. 
The  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
had  rolled  on,  and  were  now  within 
a  week  of  their  termination.  The 
ark  itself  was  at  length  completed 
and  ready  for  occupancy.  Against 
all  the  reviling  of  men  and  the  temp- 
tations of  Satan,  Noah's  faith  had 
triumphed.  Now  it  remained  to  in- 
troduce to  the  majestic  structure  its 
tenants,  and  God's  time  has  come 
for  them  to  enter. 

1.  Come  thou.  The  command  is  a 
gracious  command.  So  is  it  in  the 
gospel.  Christ  is  the  Ark  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  the  invitations 
to  enter  in  are  commands  also, 
while  the  commands  are  invitations 
of  grace — come,  come.  1"  And  all 
thine  house.  The  plan  of  God  from 
the  beginning  has  been  to  dispense 
His  grace  by  a  household  covenant. 
He  has  pleased  to  propagate  His 
church  by  means  of  a  pious  pos- 
terity. "I  will  be  a  God  to  thee, 
VOL.   I. — 8. 


and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,"  (ch. 
17  :  7.)  Hence  we  have  the  house- 
hold baptism  in  the  Christian  church, 
(Acts  16  :  15.)  This  does  not  indicate, 
however,  that  the  children  are  regen- 
erate, but  provides  that  they  may 
become  so,  by  God's  blessing  on  the 
parental  fidelity.  The  children  of 
Noah  were  not  all  regenerate  as  we 
infer  from  the  sequel.  But  God 
encourages  the  parental  endeavor  to 
that  end,  and  favors  the  children  of  be- 
lievers with  the  extraordinary  means 
and  promises.  So  under  the  New 
Testament  the  children  of  believers 
are  still  bidden  to  come  into  the  ark 
Temporal  mercies  and  deliverances 
are  often  granted  to  them  for  the 
parent's  sake — they  are  born  within 
the  pale  of  the  church,  and  favored 
with  its  oversight  and  tuition,  and 
they  are  specially  bidden  to  come  to 
Christ  as  children  of  the  church  and 
of  the  covenant,  (Acts  3  :  25.)  H  For 
tliee,  etc.  This  was  "  the  righteous- 
ness which  is  by  faith  "  which  Noah 
had,  as  Paul  is  particular  to  mention, 
(Heb.  11:7.)  The  modern  skepti- 
cism denies  that  the  patriarchs  had 
the  Christian  faith.  But  plainly 
Paul  brings  them  forward  as  instan 
ces  of  the  same  faith  with  us  of  the 


170 


GENESIS. 


fB.  0.  2447. 


2  Of  every  c  clean  beast  thou  sbalt  take  to  thee  by  sevens,  the 
male  and  his  female;  d  and  of  beasts  that  are  not  clean  by  two, 
the  male  and  his  female. 

c  vs.  S  ;  Lev.  ch.  11.     d  Lev.  10  :  10 ;  Ez.  44  :  28. 


New  Testament,  and  not  a  mere  gen- 
eral belief  in  God  and  in  Providence, 
on  the  basis  of  natural  religion. 
Noali  could  well  embrace  the  great 
doctrine  of  salvation  by  the  Messiah 
in  the  ark  which  he  built.  And 
that  ordinance  of  the  ark  upon  the 
waters  was  a  figure  like  unto  the  bap- 
tism of  the  New  Testament  church, 
(1  Peter  3  :  21.)  It  was  according  to 
a  household  covenant,  in  which  the 
very  mode  of  baptism  was  pre-figured 
— surely  not  by  immersion,  but  by  af- 
fusion. Noah  had  faith  in  the  prom- 
ised seed — and  faith  in  the  Divine 
threatening  against  a  wicked 
world — and  faith  in  the  gracious 
provision  of  the  ark.  Noah's  work 
was  altogether  in  the  line  of  God's 
gracious  direction  and  provision — it 
was  work  upon  the  ark  which  God 
had  appointed  for  a  refuge.  It  was, 
therefore,  nothing  meritorious — as  if 
the  ark  had  been  provided  because 
of  his  work.  It  was  fit  that  he  and 
his  should  enter  into  the  ark  of 
God,  to  which  he  had,  in  faith  and 
patience,  set  his  hand.  ^[  Before  me. 
This  is  God's  clear  testimony  given 
to  Noah,  in  distinction  from  the 
whole  world  of  ungodliness  besides. 
Observe. — (1.)  Noah's  family  are 
bidden  to  enter  in,  because  of  God's  re- 
lations to  Noah  himself.  (2.)  Though 
Noah  was  so  long  a  time  a  preacher 
of  righteousness  (1  Pet.  3  :  20  ;  2  Pet. 
2:5,)  he  had  been  instrumental,  it 
would  seem,  in  the  salvation  of  no  one 
outside  of  his  household.  Ministerial 
faithfulness  is  not  always  to  be  meas- 
ured by  the  manifest  fruits  in  num- 
bers converted.  ^[  In  this  generation. 
Though  they  are  so  wicked  and 
alienated  from  God. 

2.  Of  every  clean  beast.  As  noth- 
ing had  been  said  about  such  distinc- 
tion of  clean  and  unclean,  before  this 
time,  some  understand  this  to  be 
spoken  by  way  of  anticipation  and 


prophetically,  of  those  which  should 
afterwards  be  so  distinguished.  But 
this  would  not  explain  to  Noah  what 
kinds  were  meant.  We  must  sup- 
pose that  there  had  already  been  a 
distinction  made  of  clean  animals  as 
those  that  were  to  be  used  for  sacri- 
fice, and  perhaps  distinguishing  the 
food  of  the  sons  of  God,  in  the  ante- 
diluvian theocracy.  Afterwards  the 
distinction  related  also  to  their  uses  , 
for  food,  (Lev.  11.)  ^[  By  sevens. 
Heb.,  seven  seven.  (See  Zech.  4  :  2, 
Heb.  seven  and  seven.)  He  had  been 
directed  to  take  by  pairs  for  the  pur- 
pose of  keeping  alive  the  species, 
(ch.  6  :  19,  20.)  Here  it  is  more  fully 
and  expressly  directed  to  take  three 
pairs  of  each  clean  animal,  and  a 
single  seventh  one  besides.  Calvin, 
Delitsch,  Tuch,  Baumgarten,  etc.,  un- 
derstand that  seven  of  each  species, 
and  not  seven  pairs,  is  meant.  So 
Bosenmuller  says  that  the  repetition 
of  the  number  is  not  to  signify  du- 
plication, but  distribution  among  the 
species — "  seven  seven  "  being  seven 
of  each  species,  as  in  vs.  9,  and  ch. 
32  :  16.  By  sevens,  that  is  three 
pairs  and  one  single  one  of  clean 
animals,  for  preservation,  for  food 
and  sacrifice.  Some  understand  sev- 
en pairs  to  be  meant.  Noah  sacrificed 
"  of  every  clean  beast  "  at  least  one, 
on  Ararat,  upon  leaving  the  ark ; 
hence  he  must  have  had  more  than 
a  pair  or  he  could  have  used  none 
for  food  and  sacrifice  in  the  ark. 
These  went  in  also  in  pairs,  ch.  7  : 8, 
9,  that  is,  (as  is  added,)  male  and  fe- 
male. Seven  is  the  sacred  number 
in  the  Scriptures.  It  was  tit  that 
they  should  be  taken  by  sevens,  to 
keep  up  this  sacred  association. 
There  was  here  also  a  reference  to 
the  Sabbath,  as  a  seventh  part  of 
time.  Observe. — It  is  specified  (ch, 
6  :  19,  20,)  that  the  tame  cattle,  and 
creeping  things,   (smaller  animals,) 


B.  C.  2447.1 


CHAPTER  VII. 


171 


3  Of  fowls  also  of  the  air  by  sevens,  the  male  and  the  female ; 
to  keep  seed  alive  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth. 

4  For  yet  seven  days,  and  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the 
earth  e  forty  days  and  forty  nights :  and  every  living  substance 
that  I  have  made  will  I  destroy  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 

5  f  And  Noah  did  according  unto  all  that  the  Loud  command- 
ed him. 

6  And  Noah  was  six  hundred  years  old  when  the  flood  of  wa- 
ters was  upon  the  earth. 

7  %  S  And  Noah  went  in,  and  his  sons,  and  his  wife,  and  his 


e  vss.  12,  IT.     f  ch.  6  :  22.     g  vs.  1. 


and  the  fowl  were  to  enter  the  ark. 
The  wild  beasts  are  not  included  in 
the  specification.  Hence  some  have 
inferred  that  these  were  created  after 
the  deluge,  of  the  same  species  as 
before,  while  those  who  regard  the 
flood  to  have  been  partial  and  local, 
understand  these  to  have  been  pre- 
served in  other  districts,  than  that 
inhabited  as  yet  by  man.  Leaving 
out  this  whole  class  would  relieve 
very  essentially  the  difficulty  of 
many  as  to  the  room  for  such  a  mul- 
titude with  the  necessary  stores.  But 
miracle  must  be  admitted  to  account 
for  the  deluge  at  all.  And  why  not 
admit  it  also  to  account  for  these 
particulars  of  stowage?  "Jehovah 
shut  him  in." 

3.  The  same  rule  of  sevens  was  to 
be  observed  in  regard  to  all  fowls. 
There  were  to  be  none  of  the  fishes 
taken  into  the  ark.  Observe. — If, 
as  some  would  have  it,  new  species 
have  originated  by  selection,  then 
how  could  this  distinction  have  been 
kept  up  of  clean  and  unclean  ? 

4.  For  yet.  Lit.,  Because  to  (or  at) 
days  yet  seven.  See  vs.  10.  A  week 
of  further  and  most  special  warning 
was  thus  given  to  the  world,  includ- 
ing a  Sabbath.  Seven  more  days  for 
repentance,  if  peradventure  any 
would  repent.  This  very  significant 
step  was  now  taken  to  show  that 
God  was  in  earnest.  The  ark  was 
finished.  Noah  and  his  family  were 
now  to  go  aboard — and  take  with 
them  a  given  number  of  the  animals 
and  fowls — all  showing;  an  imme- 


diate preparation  for  the  great  event ! 
What  now  would  the  scoffing  world 
presume  to  say.  Jesus  Himself  who 
beheld  it,  and  wept  over  it  as  we 
may  suppose,  tells  us  that  they  were 
eating  and  drinking,  marrying  and 
giving  in  marriage,  until  the  day 
that  Noah  entered  into  the  ark, 
(Luke  17  :  27.)  1"  Forty  days,  etc. 
This  is  a  period  of  special  solemnity 
in  Scripture.  Moses,  Elijah  and 
Jesus  fasted  forty  days  and  forty 
nights.  Nineveh  had  a  warning  of 
forty  days,  and  Israel  a  wandering 
of  forty  years.  1[  Every  living  sub- 
stance. This  is  not  the  term  for  liv- 
ing thing,  creature  —  but  is  more 
properly  rendered  substance,  includ- 
ing all  created  things,  and  not  merely 
the  animal  creation — "  whatever  lives 
an d  flourishes." — Calvin.  *[[  Destroy. 
Lit.,  /  am  iciping  out,  or,  about  to 
wipe  out. 

5.  The  faithful  obedience  of  Noah 
is  still  further  recorded. 

6.  Six  hundred  years.  Lit.,  And 
Noah  was  a  son  of  six  hundred  years 
and  the  deluge  of  waters  was  upon 
the  earth.  It  was  "  in  the  six  hun- 
dredth year  of  the  life  of  Noah,"  (vs. 
11,)  that  the  flood  commenced.  He 
lived  after  the  flood  three  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  (ch.  9  :  29,)  or  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  in  all. 

7.  Noah's  family  entered  the  ark 
because  of—  or  rather,  lit.,  from  the 
face  of— or,  from  before  the  waters 
of  the  flood — showing  not  that  they 
entered  only  by  compulsion,  but  that 
in  confident  anticipation  of  the  wa- 


172 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2447. 


sons'  wives  with  him,  into  the  ark,  because  of  the  waters  of  the 
flood. 

8  Of  clean  beasts,  and  of  beasts  that  are  not  clean,  and  of 
fowls,  and  of  every  thing  that  creepetb  upon  the  earth, 

9  There  went  in  two  and  two  unto  Noah  into  the  ark,  the 
male  and  the  female,  as  God  had  commanded  Noah. 

1 0  And  it  came  to  pass,  after  seven  days,  that  the  waters  ot 
the  flood  were  upon  the  earth. 

11  T  In  the  six  hundredth  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second 
month,  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month,  the  same  day  were  all 
hthe  fountains  of  the  great  deep  broken  up,  and  the  i  windows  ot 
heaven  were  opened. 

12  k  And  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty  nights. 


h  ch.  8 :  2 ;   Prov.  8 : 


Ezek.  26  :  19.    i  ch.  1 :  T  ;  8 :  2  ;  Ps.  TS  :  23.    k  vs.  4,  17. 


ters   they  entered — as  though  they 
were  already  rising. 

9.  It  would  seem  from  this,  that 
all  the  animals  and  fowls  went  in, 
in  pairs,  and  that  there  were  no  odd 
ones,  (see  vs.  2.)  Also  that  they 
went  in  by  a  Divine  impulse,  as  by 
instinct.  It  has  been  computed  by 
some,  that  there  are  not  more  than 
three  hundred  distinct  species  of 
beasts  and  birds.   See  ch.  6  :  20,  notes. 

10.  After  seven  days.  So  the  ver- 
sions commonly  render  it,  after  the 
seven  days.  The  same  phrase  occurs 
in  Heb. ;  1  Chron.  7  :  25.  The  mar- 
gin here  reads,  on  the  seventh  day. 
The  precise  day  is  given  in  the  next 
verse.  This  was  in  the  year  of  the 
world  1656.  1"  The  waters — were — 
began  to  fall — upon  the  earth. 

11.  The  month  here  given  is 
thought  by  some  to  correspond  with 
our  November  as  the  civil  year  of 
the  Hebrew  at  this  time  commenced 
about  the  autumnal  equinox,  or  22d 
September.  This  would  bring  the 
date  (17th  of  2d  month,)  about  the 
7th  November.  Others  conclude 
that  since  the  Hebrews  begin  their 
sacred  year  in  March,  at  the  vernal 
equinox,  and  since  this  was  the 
reckoning  of  time  that  was  divinely 
appointed,  and  since  also  it  is  more 
agreeable  to  nature,  the  deluge  com- 
menced in   spring  time,  when   the 


minds  of  all  were  elated  in  the  hope 
of  the  new  year.  So  Luther,  Calvin, 
etc,  Matt.  24  :  37.  t  All  the  foun- 
tains, etc.  The  deep,  or  abyss,  was 
mentioned  in  ch.  1,  vs.  2,  which  some 
understand  of  the  atmosphere,  but 
others  of  the  seas.  The  waters  of 
the  deep,  or  abyss,  had  been  separ- 
ated by  God  at  the  creation,  (ch. 
1  :  6,)  and  confined  within  appro- 
priate bounds.  Now  all  the  springs 
or  fountains  where  those  waters 
have  their  seat,  from  beneath,  were 
broken  up  (rent — broken  asunder — ) 
so  that  there  was  a  return  again  to 
the  original  chaos  in  this  respect — 
that  the  waters  enveloped  the  face 
of  the  earth,  ch.  1 :  2.  The  masses 
of  waters  from  above  also  were  let 
loose — the  barriers  were  removed — 
and  instead  of  rain  distilling  in  drops 
from  the  clouds,  as  usual,  the  tor- 
rents poured  forth  from  above,  as  if 
from  open  windows.  The  margin 
reads  floodgates;  Greek,  cataracts. 
Tf  Were  opened  —  were  broken  up. 
See  Job  26  :  8.  There  is  yet  in  the 
East  a  phrase  like  this — "  the  heav- 
ens are  broken  up  " — to  denote  very 
heavy  rains.  It  is  held  by  some 
that  it  had  never  rained  before  this 
time,  but  that  the  earth  had  been 
watered  by  dews,  ch.  2  :  5,  6 ;  1 :  9. 
But  this  was  no  natural  rain. 
12.  And  the  rain  was  upon,  etc., 


B.  C.  2447.] 


CHAPTER  VII. 


173 


13  In  the  self-same  day  Entered  Noah,  and  Shem,  and  Ham, 
and  Japheth,  the  sons  of  Noah,  and  Noah's  wife,  and  the  three 
wives  of  his  sons  with  them,  into  the  ark : 

14  m  They,  and  every  beast  after  his  kind,  and  all  the  cattle 
after  their  kind,  and  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth  after  his  kind,  and  every  fowl  after  his  kind,  every  bird  of 
every  sort. 

15  And  they  n  went  in  unto  Noah  into  the  ark,  two  and  two 
of  all  flesh,  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life. 


1  vs.  1,  7  ;  ch.  6  :  18  ;   Heb.  11:7;  1  Pet.  3  :  20  ;  2  Pet.  2  ;  5.     m  vss.  2,  3,  8,  9.    n  ch.  6 


that  is,  the  rain  fell  upon  the  earth 
during  this  period,  according  to  the 
threatening  and  prediction,  vs.  4. 
This  is  a  definite  and  parenthetical 
statement  in  regard  to  the  continu- 
ance of  the  outburst  of  waters. 

13,  14.  Here  is  a  repetition  of  the 
statement  in  vss.  7,  8,  given  with 
more  precision.  %  In  the  self-same 
day ;  lit.,  in  the  bone  of  this  day, 
(mentioned  in  vs.  11) — in  the  article 
or  substance  of  this  day ;  that  is — in 
this  very  day.  It  is  here  recorded 
that  the  sons  of  Noah  who  entered 
the  ark  were  the  same  three  sons  as 
have  been  previously  mentioned  (ch. 
5 :  32,)  and  none  others  were  born 
to  him  during  the  building  of  the 
ark. 

14.  The  statement  here  is  very 
definite  to  show  that  specimens  or 
representatives  of  all  beasts  and  fowl 
that  were  then  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  were  taken  into  the  ark,  and 
that  without  any  confusion  of  the 
different  species.  ^[  Every  bird  of 
every  sort.  Heb.,  of  every  vying.  Ob- 
serve.— This  would  imply  that  each 
species  was  distinct,  and  to  be  pre- 
served after  its  kind,  according  to 
the  original  law  ;  and  that  there  was 
no  such  thing  as  a  formation  of  new 
species  by  selection. 

15, 16.  They  went  in  unto  Noah,  etc. 
This  indicates  the  extraordinary  im- 
pulse by  which  the  various  tribes  of 
creatures  went  into  the  ark — unto 
Noah — as  they  had  been  brought  to 
Noah  before  by  God  to  see  what  he 
would  call  them.  Observe.  —  The 
creatures  went  in  unto  Noah,  as  God 


commanded  Noah.  God  evidently 
gave  here  what  He  required.  He 
enabled  Noah  to  carry  out  the  plan 
of  His  grace.  Where  Noah's  faith 
sought  to  accomplish  God's  com- 
mand, there  God  moved  the  animals 
to  do  their  necessary  part.  We  ob- 
serve that  in  entering  the  ark  of 
their  salvation  these  various  tribes 
put  aside  all  their  mutual  enmities, 
as  it  shall  be  at  last,  when  the  lion 
shall  lie  down  with  the  lamb,  under 
the  glorious  reign  of  grace  and  re- 
demption by  Christ  Jesus.  ^[  Shut 
him  in;  lit.,  And  Jehovah  shut  in 
unto  him.  Shut  close  around  him. 
(Greek)  Shut  the  ark  outside  of  him, 
or  outside  of  it — from  the  outside. 
It  is  well  rendered,  shut  him  in.  Af- 
ter the  great  fabric  had  been  built, 
and  all  had  entered,  it  yet  remained 
that  the  door  be  closed  from  without. 
Noah  had  yet  to  rely  for  the  con- 
cluding act  upon  God  alone,  and 
without  this  there  had  been  no  sal- 
vation. Jesus  is  the  author  and  fin- 
isher of  our  faith.  This  change  here 
in  the  name  of  the  Most  High  is  to 
be  noticed.  It  is  the  covenant 
God  —  Jehovah  —  the  Redeemer  — 
who  here  shuts  him  in.  And  such 
direct  and  special  interposition  ot 
God  seemed  necessary  to  give  ade- 
quate security  to  what  Noah  had 
built,  and  to  give  protection  against 
the  riotous  crowd,  who  would  des- 
perately struggle  for  entrance  in  the 
final  hour.  So  also  is  it  in  the  ark 
of  the  New  Testament.  All  believ- 
ers are  "  kept  (as  with  a  garrison)  by 
the   power  of  God,   through  faith, 


174  GENESIS.  [B.  C.  2447. 

1G  And  they  that  went  in,  went  in  male  and  female  of  all  flesh, 
°  as  God  had  commanded  him ;  and  the  Loed  shut  him  in. 

17  PAnd  the  flood  was  forty  days  upon  the  earth:  and  the 
waters  increased,  and  bare  up  the  ark,  and  it  was  lift  up  above 
the  earth. 

18  And  the  waters  prevailed,  and  were  increased  greatly  upon 
the  earth:  3  and  the  ark  went  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 

19  And  the  waters  prevailed  exceedingly  npon  the  earth; 
r  and  all  the  high  hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were 
covered. 


o  vss.  2,  3.    p  vss.  4,  12.    q  Ps.  104: 


r  Ps.  104  :  6  ;  Jer.  3  :  23. 


unto  salvation,"  (1  Pet.  1 : 5.)  Ob- 
serve.—How  silly  are  all  the  calcu-. 
lations  and  cavils  of  skeptics  as  to 
storage  and  stowage,  in  the  light 
of  this  declaration,  that  Jehovah 
shut  him  in.  He  also  made  room 
for  all  the  inmates.  So  in  the  para- 
ble of  the  marriage  feast,  "  they  that 
were  ready  went  in  with  Him  to  the 
marriage,  and  the  door  was  shut." 
The  New  Testament  gives  us  some 
particulars  of  the  state  of  society  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  flood.  Instead 
of  being  at  all  moved  by  the  warn- 
ings and  preparations  of  Noah — 
"  they  were  eating  and  drinking, 
marrying,  and  giving  in  marriage, 
until  the  day  that  Noah  entered  into 
the  ark,  and  knew  not  until  the  flood 
came  and  took  them  all  awav," 
Matt.  24:38,  39.  They  were  most 
immersed  in  worldliness  —  entering 
into  new  relations,  as  if  their  houses 
were  to  continue  to  all  generations, 
and  they  were  rioting  upon  the 
bounties  of  God.  So  it  is  declared 
it  shall  be  at  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  Man.  Jesus  Himself  gives  to  us 
this  warning,  "  Watch,  therefore." 

17.  The  continuance  of  the  out- 
pouring of  waters  is  here  given. 
Forty  days.  It  is  not  meant  that 
the  waters  remained  forty  clays,  for 
it  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  days 
that  the  waters  prevailed  (vs.  24,) 
before  they  were  abated.  It  is  also 
stated  that  the  waters  increased  so 
as  to  lift  up  the  ark  and  set  it 
afloat 

18.  Prevailed  —  became     mighty. 


The  allusion  is  to  the  prevailing  of 
an  army.  The  waters  came  on  with 
such  resistless  force  as  to  overwhelm 
every  thing  in  their  mighty  tide. 
And  the  ark  went  (Heb.,  walked) 
upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  He 
would  say,  the  ark  rode  upon  the 
flood.  (Greek,)  Was  borne  above  the 
icaters.  This  is  a  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  the  gradual  rising  of  the 
waters,  lifting  and  floating  the  ark. 

19.  Here  again  attention  is  called 
to  the  mighty  prevalence  of  the  wa- 
ters. They  became  mighty,  very  ex- 
ceedingly—  and  all  tlie  high  moun- 
tains which  were  under  all  the  heav- 
ens tcere  covered.  This  language  is 
as  strong  as  could  be  given  to  ex- 
press the  universality  of  the  deluge. 
It  has  been  objected  that  the  end 
might  have  been  accomplished  by  a 
local  deluge  —  such  as  could  have 
come  from  the  waters  of  the  Cas- 
pian sea,  submerging  the  regions 
round  about.  But  it  has  been  shown 
to  be  most  probable  that  the  popula- 
tion of  the  globe  was  greater  then 
than  since,  and  that  the  destruction 
of  the  race  could  not  have  been  accom- 
plished by  a  partial  deluge.  Be- 
sides, as  some  have  objected  that 
water  enough  could  not  be  found,  it 
has  been  shown  that  there  is  water 
enough  on  the  earth  to  drown  it, 
as  at  the  chaos.  We  know  nothing 
of  the  height  of  mountains  before 
the  deluge  ;  and  such  a  convulsion 
would  naturally  change  the  earth's 
!  surface  so  that  the  present  plains 
may  be  primitive  ocean-beds  ;  and 


B.  C.  2447.] 


CHAPTER  VII. 


175 


20  Fifteen  cubits  upward  did  the  waters  prevail:  and  the 
mountains  were  covered. 

21  s  And  all  flesh  died  that  moved  upon  the  earth,  both  of 
fowl,  and  of  cattle,  and  of  beast,  and  of  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth,  and  every  man  : 

22  All  in  l  whose  nostrils  was  the  breath  of  life,  of  all  that  teas 
in  the  dry  land,  died. 

23  And  every  living  substance  was  destroyed  which  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  ground,  both  man,  and  cattle,  and  the  creeping 
things,  and  the  fowl  of  the  heaven ;  and  they  were  destroyed 
from  the  earth ;  and  u  Noah  only  remained  alive,  and  they  that 
were  with  him  in  the  ark. 

24  w  And  the  waters  prevailed  upon  the  earth  an  hundred  and 
fifty  days. 


s  ch.  6  :  13,  17 ;    vs.  4  ;  Job  22  :  16  ;    Matt.  24  :  39  ;    Luke  17  :  27  ;    2  Pet.  3  :  6. 
u  2  Pet.  2:5;  3:6.    w  ch.  8:  3  ;  cli.  8 :  4;  compared  with  vs.  11  of  this  chap. 


tch. 


the  landing1  of  the  ark  may  have 
been  on  a  lower  part  of  Ararat  than 
the  present  summit.     See  p.  162. 

20.  Fifteen  cubits.  Twenty-two 
feet  and  a  half  is  here  given  as  the 
height  to  which  the  waters  prevail- 
ed, or  overreached  the  highest  sum- 
mits. 

21,  22.  The  universality  of  the  de- 
struction is  here  recorded.  All  flesh 
that  moveth  upon  the  earth  died — of 
all  the  animal  tribes,  fowls,  and 
creeping  things — all  which  (had)  the 
breath  of  the  spirit  of  lives  in  their 
nostrils — of  all  which  was  in  the  dry 
land — died.  This  includes  every  va- 
riety of  creatures  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  excepting  the  fishes,  that  ten- 
ant the  waters. 

23.  Every  living  substance.  Heb. 
And  it  (the  flood)  destroyed;  lit., 
blotted  out  every  substance.  This  re- 
sult was  so  awful  (and  so  incredible, 
but  for  the  miraculous  work  of  God) 
that  it  is  again  stated  almost  in  the 
same  terms.  *j[  Both  man;  lit., 
From  man  to  beast  —  to  creeping 
things.  It  is  also  expressly  stated 
that  Noah  and  those  who  were  oc- 
cupants of  the  ark  with  him,  were 
the  only  ones  who  were  left.  %  And, 
they  were  destroyed — were  blotted  out. 
Showing  the  utter  destruction. 

24.  It  is  now  stated  that  the  wa- 
ters   prevailed  —  became    mighty  — 


upon  the  earth  one  hundred  and  fifty 
days.  The  outpouring  had  contin- 
ued forty  days,  and  this  period  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  refers  to  the 
violent  and  overwhelming  rise  and 
force  of  the  waters  before  they  be- 
gan to  abate.  They  continued  to  rush 
on  and  overwhelm  the  earth  dur- 
ing this  period  of  about  five  months. 
It  has  been  computed  that  to  over- 
come the  height  of  the  loftiest 
mountains  (of  India,)  say  twenty- 
eight  thousand  feet,  the  rise  per  day 
would  be  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
six  feet.  This  would  at  once  sweep 
away  every  thing  before  it,  and  leave 
no  opportunity  for  men  and  animals 
to  flee  to  higher  peaks,  as  they 
would  be  almost  instantly  overtak- 
en. Such  velocity  and  fury  must 
the  waters  have  had,  in  their  terri- 
ble overflow,  while  the  outbursting 
floods,  from  above,  and  from  be- 
neath, must  have  left  no  hope  of 
escape.  Partialists  estimate  that 
the  population  in  Noah's  time  was 
probably  less  than  four  millions. 

Observe. — It  is  said  by  Peter  that 
Christ  went  (as  on  a  journey)  and 
preached  by  the  Spirit  in  the  days 
of  Noah,  while  the  ark  was  prepar- 
ing, to  the  spirits  (who  are  now)  in 
prison,  which  once  were  disobedient ; 
that  is,  He  preached  through  Noah, 
and  by  means  of  the  ark,  as  a  sym- 


176 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2447 


CHAPTER    VIII, 

AND  God  a  remembered  Noah,  and  every  living  thins:,  and  all 
the  cattle  that  loas  with  him  in  the  ark :    b  and  God  made  a 
wind  to  pass  over  the  earth,  and  the  waters  assuaged ; 

a  ch.  19  :  29 ;  Exod.  2 :  24 ;  1  Sam.  1  :  19.    b  Ex.  14  :  21. 


bol  of  Himself — the  ark  of  salvation, 
1  Pet.  3  :  19,  20.  And  Peter  adds,  in 
explanation,  "  For  for  this  cause  was 
the  gospel  preached  also  to  them  that 
are  dead,  (1  Pet.  4  :  6.) 

2.  A\\  nations  have  preserved  tra- 
ditions of  a  general  deluge,  and 
these  agree  most  commonly  and 
strikingly  with  the  Scriptural  nar- 
ratives. Noah  appears  under  the 
names  of  the  righteous  Manu  of  In- 
dia, with  his  three  sons,  Scherma, 
Chasma,  and  Iyapeti — Xisuthrus  of 
Chaldea,  Osiris  of  Egypt,  Fohi  of 
China,  Deucalion  of  Greece.  So 
among  the  Peruvians,  Mexicans, 
and  Greenlanders,  similar  traditions 
are  found.  Coins  of  the  Phrygian 
city  of  Apamea  (third  century)  rep- 
resent the  flood  as  it  is  recorded  in 
Scripture,  with  the  letters  "  NO "  in 
Greek. 

3.  It  is  generally  agreed  that 
traces  of  such  an  event  as  the  flood 
are  found  on  the  earth's  surface. 
The  diluvial  land,  so  called,  is  such 
as  would  be  deposited,  as  the  sedi- 
ment of  a  deluge,  and  it  is  found  all 
over  the  earth's  surface.  Immense 
fragments  of  rock  have  been  carried 
from  Scandinavia  to  Northern  Ger- 
many, and  from  Mt.  Blanc  to  the  Jura 
mountains.  This  could  have  been 
done  only  by  such  a  Hood,  and  by  gla- 
cial agency.  Bones  of  the  mastodon 
or  mammoth  have  been  deposited  in 
the  Cordillera  mountains,  at  a  height 
of  eight  thousand  feet,  and  bones  of 
deer  and  horses  have  been  deposited 
on  the  Himmalayas,  at  a  height  of 
sixteen  thousand  feet,  whence  they 
have  been  brought  down  by  ava- 
lanches. At  Desolation  island,  S.  E. 
of  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  fossil  shell- 


fish and  whales  have  been  discover- 
ed two  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea.  See  Kurtz,  Sac.  Hist.  (p. 
57.)  "  The  Biblical  account  of  this 
event  is  equally  free  from  all  mytho- 
logical and  merely  national  ele- 
ments, and  presents  the  only  faithful 
and  purely  historical  representation 
of  a  tradition  which  had  spread  over 
all  the  nations  of  the  world." — De- 
litsch. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

§  23.  Subsiding  op  the  Flood — 
'  Ararat.    Ch.  8 : 1-14. 

As  Adam  was  the  first  head  of  the 
race,  so  Noah  is  to  be  the  second 
head.  The  ark  had  now  rode  on  the 
raging  waters  about  five  months, 
and  long  after  every  creature  had 
been  swept  away  and  died.  And 
long  after  the  universal  flood  had 
overreached  all  points  of  the  earth's 
surface,  the  ark  continued  to  ride  on, 
and  the  faith  and  patience  of  Noah 
were  exercised.  How,  during  this 
season  of  confinement  within  his 
prison,  with  no  revelation  from  God, 
himself  and  family  alone  preserved, 
he  was  tried  to  the  utmost,  we  can 
only  in  part  conceive.  His  tempta- 
tion was  probably  to  feel  that  God 
had  forgotten  him.  It  is  therefore 
recorded  here  that  God  remembered 
Noah,  and  gave  him  a  token  of  His 
remembrance.  And  not  only  so,  but 
He  remembered  every  living  thing. 
"  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a 
farthing,  and  one  of  them  shall  not 
fall  on  the  ground  without  your  Fa- 
ther," Matt.  10:29.  God's  faithful 
care  extends   to  all  His  creatures. 


B.  C.  2447.] 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


177 


2  c  The  fountains  also  of  the  deep,  and  the  windows  of  heaven 
were  stopped,  and  d  the  rain  from  heaven  was  restrained  ; 

3  And  the  waters  returned  from  off  the  earth  continually :  and 
after  the  end  e  of  the  hundred  and  fifty  days  the  waters  were 
abated. 

4  And  the  ark  rested  in  the  seventh  month,  on  the  seventeenth 
day  of  the  month,  upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat. 

c  ch.  7 ;  11.     d  Job  38  :  37.    e  ch.  7 :  24. 


And  "  the  whole  creation "  shares 
with  man  in  the  fall  and  recovery, 
(Rom.  8  :  22.)  ^[  Made  a  icind  to  pass 
over.  This  agency  God  was  pleased 
to  employ.  As  He  had  used  the 
waters,  so  now  He  uses  the  winds 
to  accomplish  His  purpose.  So  at 
the  Red  sea,  what  He  could  have 
clone  without  any  second  cause,  He 
does  by  appropriate  means.  The 
wind  would  serve  to  dissipate  the 
clouds,  and  admit  the  heat  of  the 
sun  for  evaporating  the  waters,  and 
draining  them  into  their  channels — 
dividing  the  waters  from  the  waters 
— "  a  natural  means  applied  to  bring 
about  a  supernatural  effect."  So  the 
Holy  Spirit,  whom  the  wind  symbol- 
izes, must  be  sent  to  recover  the 
earth  from  the  deluge  of  sin.  See 
Ex.  14 :  21.  T  Were  assuaged — were 
abated — diminished. 

Observe.  —  God  has  told  Noah 
that  He  would  cause  it  to  rain  forty 
days  and  forty  nights  upon  the  earth, 
and  he  had  probably  expected  soon 
after  that,  to  be  released  from  the 
ark. 

2.  All  the  outpouring  of  water 
from  above  and  beneath  was  now 
stopped,  and  it  would  seem  that  after 
the  first  forty  days  this  had  been  the 
case,  though  it  is  specially  noted 
here  to  show  that  all  the  sources  of 
the  water-floods  were  closed  up. 
*j[  The  rain.  Here  the  rain  is  men- 
tioned, in  addition  to  the  fountains 
of  the  deep,  and  the  windows  of 
heaven.  Doubtless  the  floods  had 
burst  forth  in  every  way,  and  per- 
haps the  rain  continued  after  the 
first  flooding  of  forty  days  until  this 
time.    Was  restrained — was  hindered. 

3    The  waters  returned — continual- 


ly. £Heb.)  Going  and  returning  — 
that  is,  continuing  to  return.  All 
the  particulars  of  time  and  circum- 
stance are  here  given,  so  as  to  com- 
plete the  historical  narrative.  It  is 
said  that  after  the  end ;  (lit.,  from 
the  end)  of  the  hundred  and  fifty 
days,  (during  which  "the  waters 
prevailed  upon  the  earth,"  ch.  7  :  24,) 
the  waters  were  abated ;  lit.,  decreas- 
ed. (Same  word  as  is  used  in  vs.  5.) 
The  decrease  of  the  waters  would  be 
at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  feet  per 
day  during  two  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-five days. 

4.  Hested.  The  great  saving  event 
is  now  recorded.  God  brought  sal- 
vation to  Noah,  as  He  had  promised. 
The  ark  did  not  run  aground  with 
any  violent  shock.  It  rested.  The 
term  here  is  the  verb,  corresponding 
with  the  noun  Noah,  which  means 
rest.  (Nuah.)  It  was  in  the  seventh 
month  of  the  year.  The  flood  had 
continued  five  months  before  begin- 
ning to  abate,  and  soon  afterwards 
the  ark  rested. 

Observe. — This  was  the  very  day 
on  which  our  Lord  rose  from  the 
dead,  and  rested  from  His  work — 
namely,  the  seventeenth  day  of  the 
seventh  month  —  the  day  that  the 
ark  rested  upon  Ararat.  *l  Ararat. 
This  mountain  is  called  by  the  Ar- 
menians, Massis ;  and  by  the  Turks, 
steep  mountain,  and  by  the  Persians, 
Noah's  mountain.  It  is  in  the  plain 
of  the  river  Araxes,  and  terminates 
in  two  conical  peaks,  called  the 
greater  and  lesser  Ararat,  about 
seven  miles  distant  from  each  other, 
and  respectively  seventeen  thousand 
two  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  and 
fourteen    thousand  feet    abcve  the 


178 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2447 


5  Ami  the  waters  decreased  continually,  until  the  tenth  month  : 
in  the  tenth  month,  on  the  first  day  of  the  month,  were  the  tops 
of  the  mountains  seen. 

6  %  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  forty  days,  that  Noah 
opened  f  the  window  of  the  ark  which  he  had  made : 

fch.  6:16. 


level  of  the  sea.  The  higher  peak 
has  a  summit  of  three  thousand  feet 
covered  with  perpetual  snow.  It 
was  long  judged  to  be  inaccessible, 
but  was  ascended  in  1829  by  Parrot, 
who  thinks  that  the  ark  rested  on  a 
gentle  slope  between  the  two  sum- 
mits. "  The  mountains  of  Ararat" 
may  be  understood  as  embracing  the 
range  from  the  peaks  just  noticed  to 
Kurdistan,  south.  This  range  is  a 
central  region  with  reference  to  the 
great  rivers,  seas,  and  nations  of  an- 
tiquity, and  was,  therefore,  the  spot 
most  wisely  adapted  for  the  distri- 
bution of  the  families  of  mankind  to 
the  various  quarters  of  the  world. 
Lying  .between  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  Caspian  on  the  north,  and  the 
Persian  Gulf  and  Mediterranean  on 
the  south,  connecting  with  three  of 
the  great  rivers  that  watered  Para- 
dise—  the  Tigris,  Euphrates,  and 
Araxes  —  it  stood  along  the  high- 
ways of  ancient  colonization,  near 
the  seats  of  the  great  nations  of  an- 
tiquity— the  Babylonians,  Assyrians, 
Medes,  and  Colchians.  And  "  Ararat 
is  now  the  great  boundary  stone  be- 
tween the  empires  of  Russia,  Tur- 
key, and  Persia."  —  Smith's  Diet. 
We  may  suppose  that  the  ark  rested 
not  on  either  of  the  loftiest  peaks, 
which  are  yet  so  rarely  scaled,  but 
on  the  range  of  that  region  known 
as  Ararat ;  hence  called  mountains 
of  Ararat,  as  we  say,  mountains  of 
Africa,  Italy,  Spain.  It  is  supposed 
by  some  that  the  Taurus  range  an- 
swers best  the  necessary  conditions, 
and  that  along  the  valley  of  the  Eu- 
phrates the  human  race  must  have 
journeyed  "from  the  East  to  the 
plains  of  Shiuar,"  ch.  11 :  1,  2.  In 
2  Kings  19  :  37  it  is  called  a  district 
in  Armenia,   situated   between   the 


two  lakes  "Wau  and  Urumia  (Ooroo- 
miah)  and  the  river  Araxes,  Isa. 
37  :  38.  In  Jer.  51 :  27  it  stands  for 
the  whole  of  Armenia.  It  is  not  al- 
leged that  the  ark  rested  on  the 
highest  mountain  peak  in  the  world 
or  even  in  that  region.  Some  sum- 
mits higher  than  this  would  possibly 
have  begun  to  dry. 

5.  The  waters  decreased,  etc.  Lit., 
The  icaters  icere  going  and  decreas- 
ing— that  is,  continually.  During 
about  two  and  a-half  months  this 
gradual  abatement  was  going  on, 
until  the  mountain  summits,  not 
merely  the  loftiest,  were  seen.  The 
outline  of  tli3  mountain  ranges  be- 
came visible  above  the  decreasing 
waters.  The  rate  of  daily  decrease 
was  about  one  hundred  feet  per 
day. 

6.  "  The  end  of  forty  days"  here 
spoken  of,  must  be  reckoned  from 
the  landing  of  the  ark  on  Ararat, 
not  from  the  sight  of  the  mountain 
summits.  Calvin  seems  to  reckon  it 
thus  from  the  former  period :  and 
this  would  be  before  the  summits  of 
the  mountains  became  visible.  And 
we  could  scarcely  suppose  that  Noah 
would  send  forth  any  bird  from  the 
ark  ("  to  see  whether  the  waters 
were  abated,")  after  the  mountains 
were  in  view.  Besides,  the  dove 
would  have  found  a  resting  place  in 
such  case.  At  this  time  he  opened 
the  window  of  the  ark.  The  word 
here  and  elsewhere  rendered  "  icin- 
dow  "  is  not  the  same  as  occurs  ch. 
6  :  16 — which  is  more  properly  a  sky- 
light. There  was  "  a  covering  of  the 
ark  "  which  Noah  removed,  vs.  13. 
Yet  the  clause  here  added,  "which 
he  had  made"  referring  to  the  win- 
dow, not  to  the  ark,  seems  to  point 
back  to  ch.  6  :  16,  and  the  same  may 


B.  C.  2447.] 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


179 


7  And  he  sent  forth  a  raven,  which  went  forth  to  and  fro,  until 
the  waters  were  dried  up  from  off  the  earth. 

8  Also  he  sent  forth  a  dove  from  him,  to  see  if  the  waters 
were  abated  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground ; 

9  But  the  dove  found  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  and  she 
returned  unto  him  into  the  ark,  for  the  waters  were  on  the  face 
of  the  whole  earth.  Then  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took  her, 
and  pulled  her  in  unto  him  into  the  ark. 

10  And  he  stayed  yet  other  seven  days,  and  again  he  sent  forth 
the  dove  out  of  the  ark. 

11  And  the  dove  came  in  to  him  in  the  evening,  and  lo,  in  her 
mouth  was  an  olive  leaf  plucked  off.  So  Noah  knew  that  the  wa- 
ters were  abated  from  off  the  earth. 


be  meant  throughout,  only  differ- 
ently called  in  reference  to  different 
uses. 

7.  And  he  sent  forth  the  raven — 
probably  because  this  bird  lives  on 
carcasses,  and  if  the  dead  bodies  of 
animals  that  had  perished  were  yet 
exposed,  this  bird  would  not  be  ex- 
pected to  return.  Thus  Noah  would 
have  a  sign  of  the  state  of  the  earth. 
The  raven  went  forth  to  and  fro — 
lit.,  went  out  going  and  returning — 
that  is,  continuing  to  fly  to  and  fro — 
probably  flying  away  and  coming 
back  to  the  ark,  but  not  re-entering 
it.  The  Vulg.  and  Or.  render  it — 
returned  not  again.  But  the  idiom 
is  Hebrew,  and  is  to  be  understood 
as  often  elsewhere.  In  vs.  9,  the  re- 
turn of  the  dove  to  the  ark  is  differ- 
ently expressed. 

8.  And  he  sent  forth  the  dove  from 
him.  This  bird  was  sent  to  prove 
the  condition  of  the  earth,  whether 
the  waters  were  abated — (lit.,  light- 
ened,)— and  whether  the  land  was 
sufficiently  exposed  to  afford  the 
dove  a  resting  place  ;  or  whether,  in 
lack  of  this,  she  would  return.  The 
raven  did  not  furnish  sufficient  proof 
of  the  state  of  things  :  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  dove  was  sent  forth  very 
soon  after  the  raven — probably  seven 
days,  (see  vs.  10.) 

9.  But  the  dove  found  no  rest — lit., 
resting-place.  The  term  here  used 
is  Manoah.  Her  return  to  Noah  was 
her  retuvn  to  the  only  resting-place. 


There  were,  doubtless,  some  sum- 
mits bare,  but  not  near  enough  for 
the  timid  dove  to  venture  to  them 
over  the  face  of  the  waters.  The 
waters  were  yet  prevalent,  though 
they  had  so  much  abated.  Then  he 
put  forth  his  hand,  and  took  her,  and 
brought  her — (lit.,  caused  her  to  come) 
unto  him  to  the  ark. 

10.  And  he  stayed — rather,  waited 
patiently — yet  seven  days  other — or 
after.  This  may  be  other  seven  days — 
or,  seven  days  besides — but  as  it  is  the 
same  phrase  which  occurs  in  vs.  12, 
we  may  suppose  our  version  to  be  the 
correct  one — implying  a  seven  days' 
period  already  observed  by  Noah. 
This  is  an  indication  of  Sabbath  ob- 
servance during  the  deluge.  There  is 
certainly  a  clear  hint  of  a  seventh  day 
as  a  sacred  day — and  this  goes  to 
prove  the  original  institution  of  the 
Sabbath  in  Paradise — as  the  fourth 
commandment  also  implies.  ^[  Again 
— lit.,  added  to  send.  He  sent  out  the 
dove  a  second  time  because  he  would 
repeat  the  test  he  had  already  made, 
since  he  could  rely  on  the  dove  to 
return  if  she  found  no  resting  place, 
or  to  bring  him  back  some  evidence 
of  the  earth's  condition. 

11.  It  would  seem  that  the  gentle 
dove  was  flying  at  some  distance,  as 
she  did  not  return  until  evening. 
And  the  dove  came  to  him  to  (or  at) 
the  time  of  evening — when  she  would 
naturally  seek  her  nest.  An  olive- 
leaf— or,  twig  of  olive— plucked  off— 


180 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2446 
forth   the 


12  And  he  stayed  yet  other  seven   days,  and   sent 
dove ;  which  returned  not  again  unto  him  any  more. 

13  %  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  six  hundredth  and  first  year, 
in  the  first  month,  the  first  day  of  the  month,  the  waters  were 
dried  up  from  off  the  earth :  and  Noah  removed  the  covering  of 
the  ark,  and  looked,  and  behold,  the  face  of  the  ground  was  dry. 


(not  picked  up,)  torn  from  the  tree 
(freshly,)  by  whatever  means,  it  mat- 
ters not.  See  Neh.  8  :  15.  This  was 
a  decisive  proof  to  Noah  that  the  wa- 
ters were  abated  (lightened)  from  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth.  The  olive 
branch  has  always  since  been  an  em- 
blem of  peace. 

12.  And  he  waited  patiently  yet 
other  seven  days,  (and  after  another 
Sabbath,)  he  sent  forth  the  dove,  and 
she  did  not  add  to  return  to  Mm  any 
more.  God  made  use  of  this  gentle 
bird,  and  operating  through  her  nat- 
ural instincts,  and  also  supernat- 
urally  guiding  her,  he  thus  instruct- 
ed Noah  by  her  movements. 

13.  The  flood  had  commenced  in 
the  second  month  and  seventeenth 
day  of  the  month  of  Noah's  six  hun- 
dredth year,  (ch.  7 :  11.)  It  was  ended 
on  this  first  day  of  the  first  month 
of  Noah's  six  hundred  and  first  year. 
This  would  make  the  continuance  of 
the  flood  to  have  been  about  ten 
months  and  a-half.  Others,  includ- 
ing the  forty  days  of  rain,  make  it 
one  year  and  ten  days  to  the  entire 
drying  of  the  ground  and  the  de- 
parture of  Noah  from  the  ark  on  the 


twenty-seventh  day  of  the  second 
month.  Some  understand  the  Jew- 
ish year  to  have  had  only  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-four  days — adding  to 
this  the  eleven  days  difference  be- 
tween the  day  of  the  month  on 
which  they  entered  (seventeenth) 
and  departed  (twenty-seventh)  reck 
oning  both  days,  we  have  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty- five  days,  or  a  full 
solar  year.  The  days  we  give  as 
follows : 

The  rain  lasted 40  days. 

The  waters  prevailed 150  " 

They  subsided 29  " 

Noah  delays 40  " 

Sending  raven  and  dove . .  20  " 

Another  month 29  " 

Interval  till  27th  of  second 

month 57  " 


Total, 


365 


This  is  within  a  fraction  of  the 
solar  year,  and  it  is  the  lunar  yeai 
of  three  hundred  and  fifty-six  days 
and  ten  days  additional,  making  out 
fully  the  days  of  the  solar  year — a 
"  tacit  agreement  with  the  real  order 
of  nature." 


YEAR. 

600 


601 


MO 

2, 
3, 

7, 

10, 
11, 
11, 
11, 
12, 

1, 

2, 


DAY. 
17,  (ch.  7  :  11,). . .  .Noah  enters  the  ark — Flood  commences. 
27,  After  the  forty  days'  rain  the  ark  floats. 

17,  (  ch.  8  :  4, ). . .  .Five  months  having  now  elapsed  the  arl? 

begins  to  rest. 
1    (  ch.  8  :  5, ). . .  .The  mountain  tops  are  seen. 
11,  (ch.  8 : 6,7,). . .  .The  raven  is  sent  out,  and  the  dove. 

18,  (  ch.  8  :  8, ) The  dove  is  again  sent  out — returns. 

25,  (ch.  8  :  10,) The  dove  is  again  sent  out — returns. 

2,  (ch.  8  :  12,) The  dove  is  again  sent  out — does  not  re- 

turu. 

1,  (ch.  8  :  13,) Waters  dried  off. 

27,  (ch.  8  :  14,) Ground  fully  dried— Noah  leaves  the  ark. 

(See  Delitzsch,  p.  256-7.) 


B.  C.  2446.] 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


181 


14  And  in  the  second  month,  on  the  seven  and  twentieth  day 
of  the  month,  was  the  earth  dried. 

15  ^f  And  God  spake  unto  Noah,  saying, 

16  Go  forth  of  the  ark,  S  thou,  and  thy  wife,  and  thy  sons,  and 
thy  sons'  wives  with  thee. 

g  ch.  T  :  13. 


A  volume  of  water  thirty  feet 
above  the  top  of  Ararat,  (which  is 
seventeen  thousand  two  hundred  and 
fifty-four  feet  high,)  and  which  pre- 
vailed for  a  year,  or  thereabouts, 
must  have  found  its  equilibrium, 
and  thus  covered  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth  !  According  to  the  cal- 
culation of  Lilienthal,  the  quantity 
of  water  necessary  to  cover  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  to  a  height  of  one 
mile  above  the  level  of  the  sea  is 
only  equal  to  the  two  hundred  and 
seventy-second th  part  of  the  volume 
of  the  earth.  One  of  the  most  re- 
cent cavillers  admits  that  "  a  partial 
deluge  involves  a  universal  flood." — 
(Colenso,  Vol.  ii.,  18.)  A  good  math- 
ematician finds  "  that  the  rate  of 
subsidence  of  the  waters  (as  given 
in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Genesis) 
from  the  top  of  Ararat  to  the  sea- 
level,  proves  that  at  the  same  rate, 
the  highest  mountain  on  the  globe 
would  be  twenty-seven  thousand 
feet.  In  other  words,  if  the  subsi- 
dence of  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
days  left  Ararat  exposed  (whose 
height  we  know,)  then  the  subsidence 
of  the  waters  for  two  hundred  and 
seventy-three  days  would  leave  a 
mountain  of  twenty-seven  thousand 
feet  high  dry  to  its  base.  Now  geo- 
graphers tell  us  that  this  is  the  exact 
height  of  the  loftiest  peak  of  the 
Himalaya.  So  science  is  confirming 
God's  word  as  she  revolves  on  the 
poles  of  truth."  ^[  Removed  the  cov- 
ering, fipr^.*  This  term  is  applied 
in  Exodus,  etc.,  to  the  covering  of 
skins  which  composed  the  roof  of 
the  tabernacle — and  here  it  would 
seem  to  denote  the  roof,  or  some 
movable  part  of  it.  We  need  not 
suppose  that  the  entire  covering  was 
removed,  but  only  so  much  of  it  as 


was  necessary  for  the  purpose.  It 
may  be,  however,  that  Noah,  seeing 
that  there  would  be  no  further  use 
for  this  movable  roof,  or  covering,  re- 
moved it  altogether.  This  is  not 
the  same  term  used  in  vs.  6,  nor 
that  in  ch.  6  :  16,  both  of  which  are 
rendered  "  icindow."  This,  probably, 
belonged  somehow  to  that  part  of 
the  roof  referred  to  in  ch.  6  :  16, 
which  was  to  be  finished  "  in  a  cubit 
above." 

14.  Noah  waited  nearly  three 
months  after  the  dove's  final  depart- 
ure before  he  ventured  to  leave  the 
ark,  waiting  the  Divine  direction. 
It  was  not  until  the  close  of  the  sec- 
ond month  that  the  earth  was  fully 
dried,  and  now  we  hear  the  same 
covenant  God,  who  had  bidden  him 
to  enter  the  ark,  directing  him  to 
leave  it.  He  who  "  shut  him  in " 
now  opens  the  way  for  his  departure. 
Let  us  patiently  wait  the  Divine 
sionmons  to  go  hence — from  the 
church  on  earth  to  the  church  in 
heaven.  He  who  has  brought  us 
into  the  ark  of  safety  will  carry  us 
through,  and  appoint  all  our  times 
and  seasons  till  we  depart  hence. 
"  Here  is  a  sacred  timidity  of  Noah, 
which  comes  from  the  obedience  of 
faith." 

§  24.  Depasture  from  the  Ark — 
Noah's  Sacrifice.    Ch.  8:15-22. 

15,  16.  How  cheering  to  Noah 
must  have  been  this  Divine  word  at 
length — the  flood  at  an  end,  and 
dried  up — and  the  long  year  of  gloom 
and  desolation  finished.  His  confine- 
ment in  the  ark  is  now  over— and  he 
is  to  go  forth  the  second  head  of  the 
human  family — he  and  his  house, 
the  sole  population  of  the  globe — 


132 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  244a 


17  Bring  forth  with  thee  h  every  living  thing  that  is  with  thee, 
of  all  flesh,  both  of  fowl,  and  of  cattle,  and  of  every  creeping 
thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth  ;  that  they  may  breed  abund- 
antly in  the  earth,  and  >  be  fruitful,  and  multiply  upon  the 
earth. 

18  And  Noah  went  forth,  and  his  sons,  and  his  wife,  and  his 
sons'  wives  with  him  : 

19  Every  beast,  every  creeping  thing,  and  every  fowl,  and 
whatsoever  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  after  their  kinds,  went  forth 
out  of  the  ark. 

20  And  Noah  builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  took  of 
k  every  clean  beast,  and  of  every  clean  fowl,  and  offered  burnt- 
offerings  on  the  altar. 

h  ch.  7  :  13-15.    i  ch.  1  :  22.     k  Lev.  ch.  11. 


the  sole  remnant  of  a  guilty  and 
perished  race.  Observe. — The  del- 
uge was  a  type  of  baptism — and  of 
household  baptism  ;  Noah  and  all  his 
house,  being  covered  by  the  provis- 
ion. The  ark  was  a  type  of  Christ 
> — and  Noah  was  also  a  personal  type 
of  Christ — as  the  head  of  the  family 
of  saved  ones,  pointing  forward  to 
the  Second  Adam.  ^[  Thou  and  thy 
icife,  etc.  God's  whole  plan  contem- 
plated as  much  the  family  of  Noah, 
as  himself.  It  has  always  been  the 
plan  of  God  to  propagate  the  church 
by  means  of  the  household  cove- 
nant, providing  for  a  pious  pos- 
terity. 

17.  The  renovation  of  the  earth 
is  promised  to  Noah.  Here  is  shown 
the  plan  of  God  in  ordering  a  cer- 
tain specimen  number  of  animals  to 
be  taken  into  the  ark.  It  was  for 
preservation  of  the  species — that  they 
may  breed  abundantly  and  multiply  in 
the  earth.  The  intimation  of  ch.  7  :  14, 
ia  that  each  distinct  original  species 
was  preserved  thus — and  this  would 
go  to  show  that  they  were  carefully 
kept  each  after  his  kind — the  original 
law — and  that  there  was  no  such 
law  as  the  making  up  of  new  spe- 
cies by  "  selection." 

19.  Here  it  is  distinctly  stated  that 
nil  the  animal  tribes  went  forth  from 
the  ark  "  after  their  kinds,"  as  they 
went  in,  see  ch.  7  :  14.     The  original 


species  were  to  be  carefully  pre- 
served. If  there  had  been  any  such 
law  as  the  making  up  of  new  species 
by  "selection,"  this  would  most 
likely  have  occurred  in  the  ark — 
whereas  the  whole  tenor  of  the  nar- 
rative is  that  the  identical  species,  in 
every  case,  was  preserved,  and  that 
they  came  out  as  they  went  in,  each 
"  after  its  kind." 

20.  An  altar.  Here  is  the  first 
mention  of  an  altar,  which,  as  the 
word  indicates,  means  a  place  for 
offering  sacrifice.  Cain  and  Abel 
had  offered  sacrifices.  Noah  here 
built  an  altar — of  his  own  motion — 
it  would  seem.  This  is  introduced 
here  as  though  it  was  a  familiar  thing 
—  and  doubtless  this  had  been  the 
custom  before  the  flood.  As  early  as 
during  our  first  parent's  abode  in  the 
garden  at  the  fall,  God  is  said  to  have 
clothed  them  with  the  skins  of  ani- 
mals, (ch.  3  :  21,)  implying  the  use 
of  sacrifice,  which  carried  with  it 
the  idea  of  propitiation  as  expressed 
in  the  covering — as  with  the  right- 
eousness of  the  Great  Sacrificial 
offering.  Noah  selected  of  the  clean 
beasts.  These  were,  from  the  begin- 
ning, of  certain  species,  carefully 
separated  from  all  others,  and  so 
preserved  in  the  ark,  according  to  the 
Divine  institution.  This  institution 
supposes  the  most  exact  preservation 
of  the  animals  and  fowls,  etc..  after 


B.  C.  2446.J  CHAPTER  VIII.  183 

21  And  the  Lord  smelled  la  sweet  savor  ;  and  the  Lord  said 
in  his  heart,  I  will  not  again  m  curse  the  ground  anymore  for 
man's  sake ;  for  the  n  imagination  of  man's  heart  is  evil  from  his 
youth:  ° neither  will  I  again  smite  any  more  every  thing  living, 
as  I  have  done. 


1  Lev.  1:9;  Ezek.  20 :  41 ;  2  Cor.  2:15;  Eph.  5:2.    m  ch.  3  :  IT;  6:  IT.    n  ch.  6:5;  Job 
14:  4;  15;  14;  Ps.  51  :  5  ;  Jer.  17 ;  9  ;  Matt.  15:  19;  Rom.  1:  21;  3:  23.     o  ch.  9  :  11.15. 


their  kind,  or  family.  It  was  burnt 
offerings  that  Noah  offered.  Here  is 
the  first  mention  of  burnt  offerings. 
The  Second  Head  of  the  race — the 
head  of  the  renovated  earth— the  head 
and  father  of  the  saved  ones — here 
sets  an  example  of  offering  of  every 
clean  animal  and  fowl,  a  burnt  offer- 
ing to  Jehovah.  The  term  is  from 
the  verb,  to  go  up,  meaning  such  of- 
ferings as  go  up  upon  the  altar,  or 
such  as  are  burnt  up,  whose  smoke 
goes  up :  and  the  literal  reading  is, 
"  he  caused  to  go  up  the  goers  up  on  the 
altar.  Observe. — (1.)  The  first  busi- 
ness of  Noah  is  to  express  thus  his 
gratitude  for  such  signal  preserva- 
tion of  himself  and  household  in 
distinction  from  all  the  world  beside. 
Gratitude  for  the  great  salvation 
should  be  the  ruling  principle  of  our 
living.  (2.)  There  is,  also,  on  Noah's 
part,  a  confession  of  sinfulness,  and 
a  hope  of  salvation  expressed  in  the 
sacrificial  offering.  The  burnt  offer- 
ing was  at  the  head  of  all  the  sacri- 
fices— the  most  ancient,  the  most 
general,  and  the  most  important. 
Its  chief  idea  was  expiation  and 
the  reconciliation  of  God  with  man. 
It  set  forth  Christ,  the  Great  Lamb 
of  sacrifice,  as  wholly  given  to  God 
— consumed  on  the  altar.  In  all 
the  other  sacrifices  a  part  was  re- 
tained for  the  priest  or  the  offerer  : 
but  not  so  with  this.  In  the  burnt 
offering  there  was  expressed  a  gen- 
eral confession  of  guiltiness,  and 
not,  as  in  other  offerings,  of  particu- 
lar sins.  These  latter  were  all  com- 
prised in  the  burnt  offering,  which 
was  also  a  thank  offering.  Noah 
hereby  made  solemn  confession  that 
he  and  his  house  had  been  saved  by 
grace,  and  not  by  their  own  right- 


eousness—  and  that  their  sins  re- 
quired expiation  before  God.  It 
also  expressed  their  faith  in  God's 
plan  of  grace  and  salvation  by  the 
Promised  Messiah,  and  their  confi- 
dence in  this  their  deliverance  as  a 
grand  step  in  the  execution  of  the 
plan,  and  as  a  pledge  of  its  consum- 
mation. 

21.  And  Jehovah  smelled,  etc.  This 
mode  of  expression  arose  from  the 
fact  that  the  smoke  of  incense,  or  of 
an  offering,  ascends,  and  may  seem 
to  go  up  to  God,  as  pleasant  or 
not,  according  as  the  offering  is  ac- 
ceptable or  not  to  Him.  *7  A  sweet 
savor  ;  lit.,  the  savor  of  rest — refresh- 
ment. Bathe  explains  it  rather  in 
the  sense  of  appeasing — "  odor  placa- 
minis  " — the  odor  of  expiation — or  an 
appeasing  odor.  Heb.,  (hanihoah) — a 
verbal  reference  to  the  name  Noah. 
See  1  Sam.  26:19,  where  the  Heb. 
word  rendered  "accept,"  means  to 
smell,  Lev.  26  :  31.  The  same  terms 
which  are  used  in  the  Greek  version  to 
translate  this  phrase  are  used  in  the 
New  Testament  in  regard  to  the  sac 
rifice  of  Christ,  Ephes.  5  :  2 — "  Who 
hath  loved  us,  and  given  Himself  for 
us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God 
for  a  sweet  smelling  savor."  ^[  And 
Jehovah  said  in  His  heart.  This  is 
an  emphatic  expression.  Lit.,  Said 
to  His  heart.  Elsewhere  it  is  ex- 
pressed as  an  oath.  "As  I  have 
sicom  that  the  waters  of  Noah,"  etc., 
Isa.  54:  9.  ^  I  mil  not  again  curse 
the  ground ;  lit.,  I  icill  not  add  to 
curse.  This  is  connected  with  the 
closing  clause — "as  I  have  done" — 
meaning  that  there  should  not  be 
repeated  such  a  universal  deluge. 
So  it  is  expressed  (Isa.  54 :  9)  that 
"  the  waters  of  Noah  shall  no  more 


184 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  244a 


22  P  While  the  earth  remaineth,  seecl-time  and  harvest,  and 
cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and  winter,  q  and  day  and  night,  shall 
not  cease. 


p  Is.  54  :  8.     q  Jer.  33  :  20,  25. 


go  over  the  earth."  See  vs.  22. 
*j[  For.  This  particle  in  Heb.  often 
means  "though,"  and  so  many  un- 
derstand it — that  though  every  mo- 
tion of  man's  heart  is  evil,  (ch.  8  :  5,) 
continually,  from  the  beginning,  yet 
God  would  not  visit  upon  the  ground 
his  desert  any  more.  But  we  may  un- 
derstand the  clause  to  be  closely  con- 
nected with  the  former,  and  explan- 
atory of  it— for  mail's  sake,  because 
(as  the  reason  why,  or  the  sense  in 
which  it  would  be  for  man's  sake.) 
This  was  distinctly  the  ground  on 
which  God  had  brought  this  deluge 
upon  the  earth — because  "  God  saw 
that  every  imagination  of  the 
thought  of  man's  heart  was  only 
evil  continually."  Here  He  says 
that  He  will  not  again  thus  visit 
as  for  this  reason,  He  had  done. 
He  would  spare  the  sinful  world  in 
view  of  the  great  salvation  by  Christ 
Jesus.  See  ch.  9:11.  "  Pardon 
mine  iniquity,  for  it  is  great,"  Ps. 
25:11.  Kurtz  remarks  that  "for" 
is  here  significant ;  that  the  Lord 
admits  the  fact  of  universal  sinful- 
ness as  something  actually  existing. 
It  forms  an  element  in  the  economy 
of  His  government,  and  in  part  de- 
termines its  direction.  His  compas- 
sion and  forbearance,  illustrated  in 
this  transaction,  keep  back  the  final 
judgment  until  His  grace  accomplish 
all  that  it  had  devised  and  deter- 
mined for  men's  salvation.  Von 
Gerlach  remarks  that  it  was  because 
He  had  accepted  the  sacrifice,  that 
He  could  forgive. 

Note.  —  God  graciously  accepts 
Noah's  sacrifice,  as  he  was  actuated 
by  faith  in  Christ  as  the  ark  of  safe- 
ty (Heb.  11:7.) 

22.  While  the  earth  remaineth. 
The  natural  succession  of  seasons,  as 
here  named,  is  now  promised  to  con- 
tinue so  long  as  the  earth  remaineth. 
This,  however,  will  not  be  always. 


The  earth,  and  all  that  therein  is, 
shall  be  burned  up,  2  Pet.  3  :  7.  The 
six  seasons  here  named  are  the  agri- 
cultural seasons  adopted  by  the  Jews, 
and  recognized  also  among  the  Arabs. 
The  meaning  here  is,  that  there 
shall  be  no  absolute  and  permanent 
interruption  of  this  established  order 
of  things  in  the  natural  world.  This 
promise  is  precious,  and  none  can 
tell  how  it  has  become  the  ground 
of  a  universal  confidence,  which  is  so 
necessary  among  men.  The  steady 
and  regular  succession  of  the  sea- 
sons, as  observed  by  all  men,  is  the 
basis  of  a  general  and  settled  confi- 
dence in  what  are  called  "  the  laws 
of  nature,"  which  are  only  the  ordi- 
nary operation  of  God's  power. 
This  is  also  a  covenant  of  grace  with 
Noah  —  the  consequence  of  having 
smelled  a  sweet  savor  of  his  sacri- 
fice, as  exhibiting  Christ,  and  thus 
we  are  taught  that  all  the  ordinan- 
ces of  nature  are  under  the  economy 
of  grace — that  God  spares  the  worst 
of  sinners  for  Christ's  sake,  and  that 
the  globe  rolls  on  its  axis  and  wheels 
round  the  sun  in  the  succession  of 
natural  seasons,  and  the  operation  of 
physical  laws,  all  because  the  Lamb 
of  God  was  slain  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world,  and  because  all 
nature  is  under  the  mediatorial  dis- 
pensation. 

Note  (1). — In  the  days  of  Noah, 
while  the  long-suffering  of  God  wait- 
ed during  the  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty years  of  warning,  Christ  preached 
to  the  spirits  who  are  now  in  prison, 
1  Pet.  8 :  19,  20.  There  is  nothing 
in  this  passage  nor  anywhere  in 
Scripture  to  warrant  the  idea  that 
they  who  perished  in  the  flood  en- 
joyed any  future  offers  of  grace. 

Note  (2.) — This  judicial  visitation 
was  also  an  act  of  salvation  to  a 
remnant.  The  flood  is  also  a  type  of 
baptism  (1  Pet.  3 :  21.)     To  be  'in  the 


B.  C.  3446.] 


CHAPTER  IX. 


185 


CHAPTER  IX 

AND   God    blessed  Noah  and  his   sons,  and  said  unto  them, 
a  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth. 
2  b  And  the  fear  of  you,  and  the  dread  of  you,  shall  be  upon 
every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  upon  every  fowl  of  the  air,  upon 
all  that  moveth  upon  the  earth,  and  upon  all  the  fishes  of  the  sea; 
into  your  hand  are  they  delivered. 


a  ch.  1 


vs.  7:  19:  ch.  10  :  32.    b  ch.  1 ;  23  ;  Hos.  2:  18. 


ark  is  to  be  saved,  while  the  exter- 
nal ordinance  is  that  of  water  (with 
the  blood,)  which  signifies  our  spirit- 
ual cleansing  —  "  not  the  washing 
away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,"  as 
though  the  mere  outward  ordinance 
could  be  all — but  the  answer,  etc. 

Observe. — The  great  promise  of 
the  coming  Deliverer  had  not  been 
fully  realized  as  yet,  but  only  shad- 
owed forth.  Salvation  from  a  uni- 
versal deluge  was  now  the  further 
idea  ;  salvation,  amidst  the  destruc- 
tion of  a  sinful  world,  is  the  fuller 
unfolding  of  the  Messianic  promise 
and  hope.  A  new  stadium  in  the 
development  now  occurs  in  history. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

§  25.  God's  Blessing  upon  Noah's 
House  —  Food  and  Protection. 
Ch.  9 : 1-7. 

It  had  pleased  the  (rod  of  all  grace 
to  spare  Noah  and  his  family — eight 
souls  in  all — "  a  remnant,  according 
to  the  election  of  grace."  And  now, 
with  this  new  head  of  the  race,  God 
(1.)  establishes  His  covenant,  repeat- 
ing the  grant  made  to  Adam,  of  do- 
minion over  nature,  and  of  the  bless- 
ing of  fruitfulness  ;  and  giving  also 
"  a  preliminary  law  "  to  be  their  first 
elementary  schoolmaster  to  lead  to 
Christ,  (Gal.  3:24.)  (2.)  God  sets 
His  brilliant  and  manifest  seal  to 
this  covenant  —  His  bow  in  the 
cloud.  Vs.  1  provides  for  the  prop- 
agation of  the  race.  Vs.  2  guarantees 
this  small  household  against  the 
ferocity  of  the  animal  tribes  by 
promising  ta  implant  a  fear  of  them 


in  the  brute  creatures.  Vs.  3  is  a 
grant  of  animal  food,  implying  the 
subjugation  and  use  of  the  animal 
tribes.  Vs.  5  gives  further  a  guar- 
anty of  protection  against  the  law- 
less ferocity  of  wicked  men,  by  insti- 
tuting the  civil  magistrate  as  a  di- 
vine ordinance,  armed  with  public 
and  official  authority  to  put  down 
capital  violence  and  crime  by  capital 
punishment,  (Rom.  13  :  4.)  The  re- 
striction contained  in  vs.  4  against 
the  separate  use  of  blood,  is  an  ex- 
pression of  the  Messianic  idea. 
Blood,  being  the  standing  symbol  of 
expiation,  was  to  be  regarded  and 
treated  with  awe,  and  was  to  be  ab- 
stained from  in  any  separate  parta- 
king. Thus  the  race  was  to  be  train- 
ed to  the  great  elementary  idea  of  a 
sacred  significance  in  Mood.  This  is 
more  fully  expressed  in  Lev.  17  :  10, 
11. — "For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in 
the  blood,  and  I  have  given  it  to  you 
upon  the  altar  to  make  an  atone- 
ment for  your  souls." 

1.  As  Noah  and  his  sons  are  to  be- 
come the  progenitors  of  the  whole  hu- 
man race,  we  find  here  an  exact  re- 
announcement  of  the  blessing  upon 
Adam  and  Eve,  (ch.  1 :  28.)  It  has  also 
the  form  of  a  command.  But  God's 
commands  are  also  invitations — full 
of  privilege  and  blessing.  This  first 
part  of  God's  covenant  with  Noah 
relates  to  the  transmission  of  life. 

2.  The  second  part  of  the  cove- 
nant reestablishes  man's  dominion 
over  the  inferior  animals.  *j[  Tlie 
fear  of  you.  Unlike  the  Paradisai- 
cal state,  the  animal  tribes  were  now 
to  be  governed  by  the  fear  and  dread 
of  man,  and  not  as  then — by  the  law 


186 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2446 


3  c  Every  moving  thing  that  liveth  shall  be  meat  for  you ;  even 
as  the  d  green  herb  have  I  given  you  e  all  things. 

4  f  But  flesh  with  the  life  thereof,  which  is  the  blood  thereof, 
shall  ye  not  eat. 

c  Deut.  12  :  15;  14:3,  9,  11  ;  Acts  10 :  12,  13.  d  ch.  1  :  29.  e  Rom.  14  :  14,  20 ;  1  Cor. 
10  :  23,  26 ;  Col.  2  :  16  ;  1  Tim.  4  :  3,  4.  f  Lev.  17  :  10,  11,  14 ;  19  :  26 ;  Deut.  12  :  23 ;  1  Sam. 
14:34;  Acts  15  :  20,  29. 


of  gentleness  and  willing  subjec- 
tion. Enmity  is  put  between  fallen 
man  and  all  the  brute  creatures,  as 
well  as  the  serpent.  But  though 
they  are  so  greatly  superior  in 
strength,  their  instinct  is  commonly 
to  flee  from  the  presence  of  man. 
If  it  were  not  so,  how  full  of  terror 
would  men  be  in  new  settlements, 
where  civilized  society  crowds  upon 
the  wilderness  tribes.  ^[  Into  your 
hand,  etc.  The  whole  animal  crea- 
tion are  given  into  the  power  of 
man,  and  their  instinct  of  shrinking 
away  from  man's  presence,  is  the 
clear  indication  of  this  divine  law. 
Even  the  strongest  and  most  fero- 
cious animals — as  the  lion,  the  tiger, 
etc.  —  when  they  are  not  irritated, 
flee  from  man,  though  they  could  so 
easily  overpower  him.     (See  Ps.  8.) 

3.  This  third  section  of  the  cove- 
nant relates  to  the  means  of  sustain- 
ing life.  Some  understand  that  here, 
for  the  first  time,  man  is  allowed  the 
use  of  animal  food.  Others  under- 
stand it  as  abolishing  an  antedilu- 
vian restriction  of  unclean  meats, 
which  separated  the  sons  of  God  in 
the  antediluvian  theocracy.  *j[  As 
the  green  herb.  Just  as  freely  were 
they  henceforth  permitted  to  use 
flesh  for  food,  as  they  had  been 
granted  the  use  of  all  green  herbs  at 
the  beginning.     See  ch.  1 :  29. 

4.  But.  Here  is  a  positive  restric- 
tion set  upon  the  use  of  flesh  for 
food,  viz.,  that  with  the  blood — that  is, 
without  the  blood  of  the  animal  hav- 
ing first  been  shed,  it  was  not  allow- 
ed. Blood  was  not  allowed  to  be 
used  separately.  The  reason  here 
implied  is,  that  the  life  was  some- 
how mysteriouslv  contained  in  the 
blood,  Lev.  17:10;  Deut.  12:23. 
The  ground  of  this  restriction  was 


that  blood  was  appointed  by  God  as 
the  standing  symbol  of  expiation. 
And  as  the  people  were  to  be  trained 
to  great  leading  ideas  of  sin  and  sal- 
vation by  means  of  these  ritual  ordi- 
nances, so  they  were  to  be  taught  of 
a  special  sanctity  attaching  to  blood 
in  the  system  of  Divine  grace.  "  For 
without  shedding  of  blood  is  no 
remission,"  (Heb.  9 :  22.)  The  natural 
horror  of  blood  which  obtains  among 
men  is  evidence  of  such  a  Divine 
regulation.  Some  have  thought  that 
"  the  sole  intention  of  this  prohibi- 
tion was  to  prevent  the  excesses  of 
cannibal  ferocity  in  the  eating  of 
the  flesh  of  living  animals,  to  which 
men  in  earlier  ages  were  liable." 
But  a  much  more  weighty  reason 
we  have  already  given.  "For  the 
life  (soul)  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood, 
and  I  have  given  it  to  you  upon  the 
altar  to  make  an  atonement  for  your 
souls  (lives.")  Lev.  17:11.  The 
blood  would  seem  to  be  so  connected 
with  the  life,  as  its  channel  or  ve- 
hicle, that  it  may  be  regarded  as 
having  the  life  in  it.  Oerlach  re- 
marks that  after  Christ,  by  his  own 
blood  (and  not  by  the  blood  of  goats 
and  calves),  has  made  an  atonement, 
the  eating  of  blood  became  a  matter 
of  indifference."  But  it  was  decided 
at  the  apostolic  Synod  at  Jerusalem, 
that  it  should  be  abstained  from  at 
that  time.  The  principle  of  that  de- 
cision seems  to  have  been  this — that 
all  idolatrous  usages  and  associations 
should  be  abstained  from,  and  so 
also  any  thing  that  would  needlessly 
prejudice  the  Jews,  especially  every 
thing  that  would  throw  dishonor 
uoon  the  blood  of  expiation.  See 
Acts  15  :  29.     (Notes.) 

5.  This  fourth  section  of  the  cove- 
nant relates  to  the  protection  of  life, 


B.  C.  2446.1 


CHAPTER  IX. 


187 


5  And  surely  your  blood  of  your  lives  will  I  require  :  g  at  the 
hand  of  every  beast  will  I  require  it,  and  hat  the  hand  of  man; 
at  the  hand  of  every  ]  man's  brother  will  I  require  the  life  of  man. 

6  k  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be 
shed:  ]  for  in  the  ima^e  of  God  made  he  man. 


g  Ex.  21  :  2S.    h  ch.  4  :  9,  10 ;  Ps.  9  :  1: 
Matt.  26  :  52 ;  Rev.  13  :  10.     1  ch.  1  :  27. 


Acts  17  :  26.     k  Ex.  21  :  12,  14 :  Lev.  24  :  IT; 


and  institutes  a  new  guardianship  of 
it,  in  the  civil  magistrate — who  is 
armed  with  Divine  authority,  as  a 
public  officer,  to  repress  violence  and 
crime.  This  ordinance  of  the  civil 
magistrate  had  not  existed  before 
this  time.  See  Rom.  13:4.  From 
this  preliminary  legislation  the 
synagogue  has  derived  "  the  seven 
Noachic  precepts,"  which  were  held 
to  be  obligatory  upon  all  proselytes. 
These  forbid  (1.)  Idolatry.  (2.)  Blas- 
phemv.  (3.)  Murder.  (4.)  Incest, 
(o.)  Theft.  (6.)  Eating  blood  and 
strangled  animals.  (7.)  Disobedience 
to  magistrates,  ^f  Your  blood  of 
your  lives — Your  blood  belonging  to 
your  lives — or,  in  which  the  life  is 
contained.  Here  are  two  restrictions 
set  to  vs.  3,  (1.)  While  animal  life  is 
given  to  man  for  food,  human  life  is 
not  given  to  animals  for  food,  but 
would  \se  judicially  required  of  them 
in  retribution.  (2.)  Human  life  blood 
would  be  required  at  the  hand  of 
man — that  is,  men  would  be  held 
accountable  to  the  Divine  judgment 
for  shedding  man's  life-blood.  The 
term  here  rendered  require,  means  to 
require  judicially — to  make  inquisi- 
tion for — the  same  verb  as  in  Ps. 
9  :  12.  ^[  At  the  hand  of  every  beast. 
This  is  not  to  be  understood  to  mean 
that  beasts  were  to  be  made  the  in- 
struments of  God's  avenging  the 
blood  of  men,  (as  Bush;)  but,  that 
God  would  ordain  the  retaliation 
upon  beasts  of  prey,  such  as  obtains 
among  men — in  a  spirit  of  extermi- 
nation for  their  ferocious  love  of 
human  blood.  This  contains  the 
Divine  sanction  of  that  Mosaic  regu- 
lation (Exod.  21  :  28,)  that  the  ox 
that  gorel  a  man  or  woman  should 
die,  by  stoning.    ^[  Of  every  man's 


brother.  Here  is  a  further  restriction 
upon  the  grant  in  vs.  3,  and  a  further 
ordinance  for  the  protection  of  hu 
man  life — lit.,  Of  every  man,  his 
brother.  This  does  not  mean  that 
God  will  require  of  every  man's 
brother  satisfaction  for  murder.  But 
it  means  that  God  will  require  it  of 
man,  his  brother — who  has  shed  the 
blood  of  his  brother  man.  So  the 
Chalet,  reads,  "  At  the  hand  of  the 
man  who  shall  shed  his  brother's 
blood  will  I  require  the  life  of  man." 
At  the  hand  of  does  not  mean,  by 
the  hand  of— (as  Bush.)  This  is  ex- 
pressed by  another  preposition,  as  in 
Mai.  1:1.  Here  it  is,  literally,  from  the 
hand  of.  It  is  not,  therefore,  (as  Bush 
supposes,)  the  origin  of  the  institution 
of  Goelism.  God  here  only  proclaims 
His  fixed  and  universal  law  that  the 
murderer  should  die  by  the  hand  of 
the  civil  magistrate.  The  institu- 
tion of  the  Goel,  or  blood-avenger, 
belonged  to  the  patriarchal  times — 
as  the  temporary  substitute  for  the 
civil  magistrate  in  that  informal  con- 
dition of  society — and  it  was  after- 
wards incorporated,  with  modifica- 
tions, into  the  Mosaic  code. 

6.  Here  the  Divine  ordinance  is 
more  explicitly  stated,  with  the  rea- 
son, making  it  applicable  to  all  ages. 
^[  Whoso  sheddeth,  etc.  Civil  magis- 
tracy is  here  instituted  and  armed 
with  the  right  of  capital  punishment. 
The  taking  of  life,  which  is  wilful 
and  malicious,  is  here  condemned 
— not  that  which  is  accidental,  or 
judicial.  That  this  is  the  law  of 
God,  for  all  ages  the  same,  is  clear 
from  the  reason  annexed.  ^  For  in  the 
image,  etc.  The  fact  that  laan  was 
made  in  the  Divine  image  (ch.  1 :  27,)  is 
here  given  as  the  reason  for  this  Di- 


188 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2446 


7  And  you,  m  be  ye  fruitful,  and  multiply;  bring  forth  abun- 
dantly in  the  earth,  and  multiply  therein. 

8  *|f  And  God  spake  unto  Noah,  and  to  his  sons  with  him, 
saying, 

m  vss.  1,  19 ;  cb.  1  :  28. 


vine  law  of  capital  punishment. 
And  tliis  is  a  reason  which  is  equally- 
good  at  all  times,  and  equally  appli- 
cable among  all  people.  This  image 
of  God,  in  which  man  was  first  form- 
ed, so  belongs  even  to  fallen  man 
that  such  wilful  destruction  of  hu- 
man life  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  crime 
against  the  Divine  majesty,  thus 
imaged  in  man.  Accordingly  this 
law  has  lost  none  of  its  force  by  the 
gospel — for  the  gospel  has  rather 
added  to  the  sanctity  of  human  life, 
and  to  the  value  of  the  Divine  im- 
age as  yet  to  be  reclaimed  in  the  new 
creation.  It  is  often  argued  against 
capital  punishment  that  all  punish- 
ment is  remedial.  But  God  Himself 
has  instituted  capital  punishment 
which  is  not  remedial,  because  it  is 
eternal.  And  so  human  governments 
have  always  had  a  capital  punish- 
ment which  so  far  as  they  can  make 
it  so,  is  eternal — and  which  is  not 
intended  as  reformatory,  but  as  judi- 
cial and  exemplary,  for  the  good  of 
society,  and  for  an  example  to  all 
offenders.  Bash  understands  this 
latter  clause  as  giving  the  reason  for 
this  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate 
— that  "  he  bears  a  visible  impress 
of  the  Divine  image  in  the  legal  sov- 
ereignty with  which  he  is  invested." 
This  is  aside  from  the  meaning,  as 
we  have  seen.  This  would  prove 
too  much — as  it  would  imply  that 
this  image  of  God  in  which  man  was 
created,  refers  to  the  civil  magistracy, 
and  surely,  every  man  was  not  crea- 
ted a  civil  magistrate.  "By  the 
Divine  image  is  meant  not  merely 
the  moral  perfection  of  man  in  his 
communion  with  God,  (which  was 
lost  by  the  Fall,)  but  likewise  his 
capacity  for  this  which  could  never 
be  lost." — Gerlach.  It  may  further 
be  intimated  that  since  God  had  now 
permitted  the  killing  of  animals  for 


man's  subsistence,  man  was  hence- 
forth to  hold  the  life  of  his  fellow 
man  as  so  much  more  sacred  in  his 
sight.  The  experiment  which  has 
been  made  by  some  States,  of  abol- 
ishing capital  punishment  has  been 
generally  abandoned,  as  of  mischiev- 
ous effect.  The  magistrate  (says 
Paul,)  "  beareth  not  the  sword  in 
vain,"  Rom.  13  :  14.  This  law, 
therefore,  looks  on  one  side  to  a  firm 
ordinance  of  nature  which  arms  man 
against  beasts  of  prey — and  on  the 
other  side,  points  to  a  fundamental 
ordinance  of  society.  It  is  also  of 
universal  application,  recognizing,  in 
this  respect,  the  universal  brother- 
hood of  man. 

7.  After  this  protection  of  man's 
life  by  such  enactments  the  com- 
mand is  again  given  for  the  propa- 
gation of  human  life,  vss.  1,  19,  and 
ch.  1:28. 

Observe. — Here,  at  this  transition 
point — at  the  close  of  the  antedilu- 
vian history,  and  the  opening  of  the 
postdiluvian  records,  we  find  God 
delegating  to  man  the  authority  to 
punish  the  murderer  by  death,  and 
thus  clothing  the  civil  magistrate 
with  the  high  function  of  enforcing 
all  the  minor  sanctions  of  the  law 
for  breaches  of  the  civil  compacts. 
It,  therefore,  points  out  the  institu- 
tion of  civil  government  as  coming 
from  God,  and  clearly  shows  the 
duty  of  obedience  and  loyalty,  (Rom. 
13  : 1-3,)  and  the  accountability  of 
all  governments  to  God,  for  all  the 
powers  they  hold,  and  for  the  mode 
in  which  they  are  exercised.  A  great 
historical  lesson  for  all  ages  is  here. 

§  26.  God's  Covenant  with  Noah 
— TnE  Covenant  Seal — Second 
Head  of  the  Race.    Ch.  9  :  8-17. 

8.  Noah  and  his  sons.    God's  eov- 


B.  C.  2446.] 


CHAPTER  IX. 


189 


9  And  I,  n  behold,  I  establish  °  my  covenant  with  you,  and 
with  your  seed  after  you ; 

10  P  And  with  every  living  creature  that  is  with  you,  of  the 
fowl,  of  the  cattle,  and  of  every  beast  of  the  earth  with  you; 
from  all  that  go  out  of  the  ark,  to  every  beast  of  the  earth. 

11  And  q  I  will  establish  my  covenant  with  you  ;  neither  shall 
all  flesh  be  cut  off  any  more  by  the  waters  of  a  flood ;  neither 
shall  there  any  more  be  a  flood  to  destroy  the  earth. 

12  And  God  said,  r  This  is  the  token  of  the  covenant  which  I 

nch.  6:  IS.     o  Isa.  54:  9.     p  Ps.  145  :  9.     q  Isa.  54  :  9.     r  ch.  17  :  11. 


enant  with  Noah,  as  the  head  of 
his  household  included  with  him, 
his  sons,  according  to  the  Divine 
plan  perpetuated  to  us  in  the  house- 
hold covenant.     So  with  Abraham. 

9.  My  covenant.  This  covenant 
with  Noah  and  his  sons  marks  a  new 
development  of  God's  gracious  plan : 
starting  with  Noah,  as  the  previous 
covenant  had  started  with  Adam  ; 
Noah  being  now  the  second  head 
and  father  of  the  race.  On  the  part 
of  man,  the  starting  point  is  that 
confession  of  his  sinfulness,  and  of 
his  hope  of  salvation,  which  finds  in 
sacrifice  an  appropriate  expression. 
On  the  part  of  God  it  is  a  gracious 
acceptance  of  the  sacrifice  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  promise,  (ch.  8:21.) 
This  promise  is  here  conveyed  in  i 
covenant  form,  and  sealed  with  a 
covenant  seal,  (vss.  11,  12.)  ^[  Cove- 
nant. This  term  usually  refers  to  a 
solemn  compact  entered  into  between 
two  parties,  with  mutual  engage- 
ments in  due  form.  But  it  often 
refers,  also,  to  God's  definite  promise, 
or  decree,  in  which  He  deigns  to 
bind  Himself  to  His  creatures,  with- 
out conditions  or  terms,  absolutely, 
(Jer.  33:20;  Exod.  34:10;  see  2 
Chron.  7  :  18.)  Here  the  gracious 
object  is  to  assure  the  race  that  no 
deluge  of  waters  should  again  be 
sent  upon  the  earth.  A  deluge  of 
fire  is  to  destroy  the  present  earth, 
(2  Peter  3  :  7.)  The  term  is  derived 
by  Oeseniits  from  the  verb  to  cut,  be- 
cause the  Heb.  phrase  is  to  cut  a  cov- 
enant, and  the  custom  was  to  divide 
an  animal    into  parts  to  ratify  it 


solemnly.  Others  derive  it  from  the 
verb  to  eat  together,  which  would 
explain  the  phrase  a  covenant  of 
salt.  Others  refer  it  to  purifying. 
See  Mai.  3  :  2. 

10.  This  covenant  promise  extends 
to  the  animals  who  went  out  of  the 
ark  with  Noah,  and  through  them 
to  every  beast  of  the  earth  after 
them.  As  the  flood  destroyed  all  the 
animals  who  entered  not  into  the  ark, 
so  they  were  interested  with  man,  in 
the  terms  of  this  Divine  promise. 
"  The  whole  creation  "  is  represented 
by  Paul  as  groaning  and  travailing 
in  pain  together  in  sympathy  with 
the  curse  upon  man,  (Rom.  8  :  22.) 
God,  by  the  prophet,  represents  this 
covenant  as  confirmed  by  all  the 
solemnity  of  an  oath.  "  I  have 
sworn,"  etc.,  (Isa.  54  :  9.) 

11.  The  purport  of  blessings  se- 
cured by  this  covenant  is  here  given 
(1)  as  regards  "  all  flesh,"  and  (2)  as 
regards  "  the  earth."  The  flood,  was 
sent  to  destroy  not  only  all  flesh  out- 
side of  the  ark,  but  the  earth  also. 
Here  the  promise  refers  to  both,  as 
to  be  exempt  from  this  visitation  in 
future.  Peter  refers  to  the  destiny 
of  the  present  earth,  in  contrast  with 
that  of  the  old  world,  (2  Pet.  3  :  6,  7,) 
"  Behold,  therefore,  the  goodness 
and  severity  of  God."  As  He  had 
included  the  inferior  creatures  in  the 
curse,  so  He  now  includes  them  in 
the  blessing. 

12.  The  token.  God  is  pleased  to 
give  a  token-  or  sign  of  His  covenant, 
by  which  the  race  might  in  all  ages 
be  certified  of  God's  fidelity  to  His 


190 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2446. 


make  between  me  and  yon,  and  every  living  creature  that  is  with 
you,  for  perpetual  generations. 

13  I  do  set  s  my  bow  in  the  cloud,  and  it  shall  be  for  a  token 
of  a  covenant  between  me  and  the  earth. 

14  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  I  bring  a  cloud  over  the 
earth,  that  the  bow  shall  be  seen  in  the  cloud  : 

.s  Rev.  4  :  3. 


word,  by  such  a  sign  of  His  faithful 
remembrance  of  His  covenant.  The 
sign  or  token  of  a  covenant  was 
sometimes  a  heap  or  pillar,  ch. 
31 :  52.  Sometimes  a  gift,  ch.  21 :  30, 
as  a  witness,  or  memorial. 

13.  I  do  set ;  lit.,  I  give,  constitute, 
appoint.  %  My  how.  God  is  pleased 
to  call  the  rainbow  His  own — that 
is,  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  His  own 
covenant  token,  set  in  the  clouds  for 
the  assurance  of  all  creatures  against 
a  deluge.  Naturally,  after  so  dread- 
ful a  dispensation,  the  gathering  of 
clouds  would  strike  terror,  which 
the  appearing  of  this  bow  on  the 
face  of  the  storm  was  to  allay.  Ho- 
mer refers  to  the  rainbow  as  the  pe- 
culiar sign  and  token  of  God.  The 
question  has  been  raised  whether 
the  rainbow  had  appeared  before 
this  period,  or  whether  it  is  only 
now  appointed  by  God  for  this  cove- 
nant sign.  It  is  argued  by  some 
that  there  had  been  only  a  mist  prior 
to  the  deluge,  ch.  2:6.  Of  this  we 
cannot  be  certain ;  nor  is  it  impor- 
tant to  know.  A  mist  can  produce 
a  rainbow ;  but  it  is  not  in  every 
rain  that  we  have  a  rainbow,  and 
there  must  have  been  rain  before 
the  deluge,  (ch.  2  :  6,)  yet  this  may 
have  been  the  first  appearing  of  the 
rainbow.  This  seems  to  be  the  im- 
pression we  get  from  the  narrative. 
Delitzsch  understands  that,  though  it 
had  rained  before  the  flood,  yet  the 
atmosphere  was  differently  consti- 
tuted after  the  flood  ;  and  that  to 
this  fact  is  due  this  new  phenomenon 
of  the  rainbow,  as  there  was  also  a 
difference  of  climate  before  and  after 
the  flood.  It  is  certain  that  the  rain- 
bow has  had  attached  to  it  a  Divine 
significance    by    this    appointment, 


and  that  otherwise  it  could  have 
had  no  such  association.  The  sig- 
nature of  it  is  sufficiently  legible 
when  we  understand  it  as  God's 
bow.  Though  it  is  produced  by  nat- 
ural causes,  yet  since  it  is  not  always 
an  accompaniment  of  rain,  even  now, 
and  since  its  impression  as  a  token 
for  the  purpose  intended  could  not 
have  been  so  strong  if  it  had  been 
already  familiar,  we  must  rather  sup- 
pose that  it  was  not  known  to  Noah 
and  his  family  before  this,  or  per- 
haps that  it  was  now  exhibited  in 
the  sky,  (vs.  16.)  Most  admirably  is 
it  adapted  to  its  purpose  of  certify- 
ing the  tender  regard  of  God  for  His 
creatures.  And  as  it  is  the  sun's 
rays  shining  through  the  rain  drops 
that  reflect  this  glowing  image  on 
the  black  cloud,  so  is  it  also  a  fitting 
symbol  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
reflected,  in  His  glorious  attributes, 
upon  the  face  of  every  dark  and 
threatening  dispensation  towards 
His  church.  The  rainbow  is  always 
used  in  Scripture  as  the  symbol  of 
grace  returning  after  wrath.  Com- 
pare Ezek.  1 :  27,  28 ;  Rev.  4 : 3  ;  10  : 1. 
The  cloud  serves  as  the  best  back- 
ground for  the  display  of  the  glori- 
ous covenant  seal. 

14.  When  I  bring  a  cloud,  (neb.) 
in  clouding  a  cloud.  This  form  of 
expression  denotes  intensity  in  bring- 
ing thick  clouds — as,  in  the  sudden 
and  violent  showers  of  the  Eastern 
world.  Such  as  these  more  com- 
monly display  the  rainbow.  The 
whole  detail  of  the  description  im 
plies  something  new ;  and  a  new 
covenant  required  a  new  seal. 
^  Shall  be  seen.  As  if  not  seen  be- 
fore. 

15.  And   I  icill  remember.     This 


B.  C.  2446.] 


CHAPTER  IX. 


191 


15  And  UI  will  remember  my  covenant,  which  is  between  me 
and  yon,  and  every  living  creature  of  all  flesh  ;  and  the  waters 
shall  no  more  become  a  flood  to  destroy  all  flesh. 

16  And  the  bow  shall  be  in  the  clone! ;  and  I  will  look  upon  it, 
that  1  may  remember  w  the  everlasting  covenant  between  God 
and  every  living  creature  of  all  flesh  that  is  upon  the  earth. 

17  And  God  said  unto  Noah,  This  is  the  token  of  the  covenant 
which  I  have  established  between  me  and  all  flesh  that  is  upon 
the  earth. 

18  ^[  And  the  sons  of  Noah  that  wrent  forth  of  the  ark,  were 
Shem,  and  Ham,  and  Japheth :  x  and  Ham  is  the  father  of  Ca- 
naan, 

u  Ex.  23  :  12  ;  Lev.  26:  42,  45  ;  Ezek.  16 :  60.    \r  ch.  17  :  13-19.     x  ch.  10 :  6. 


token  is  for  God  as  well  as  for  man. 
God  deigns  here  to  appoint  it  as  a 
remembrance  to  Himself.  "  It  is  a 
bow,  (says  Dr.  Gill,)  yet  without  ar- 
rows, and  pointed  upward  to  heaven, 
and  not  downward  to  earth."  ^[  No 
more.  The  waters  which  first  en- 
veloped the  earth  in  chaos  were  sep- 
arated by  the  Divine  command,  so 
that  the  dry  land  appeared.  But 
this  was  contrary  to  the  original  law. 
And  when  we  reflect  how  easily  again 
the  fountains  of  the  great  deep,  which 
are  held  back  by  forced  constraint, 
might  be  let  loose  again  upon  the 
earth,  we  can  understand  the  Divine 
mercy  in  this  covenant.  See  Cal- 
vin. 

16.  This  detail,  so  minutely  given, 
to  show  the  token  and  its  meaning, 
would  seem  to  imply  that  the  rain- 
bow was  a  new  phenomenon,  and 
perhaps  was  now  to  be  seen  in  the 
sky. 

17.  This  is  the  token.  This  verse 
may  be  understood  as  a  summary 
repetition  for  further  confirming  the 
faith  of  Noah.  Or  it  may  be  that  to 
illustrate  most  forcibly  what  was 
meant,  God  at  once  spread  out  His 
clouds  in  the  sky,  and  set  His  bow 
upon  them  —  a  most  gorgeous  and 
beautiful  exhibition  of  His  love — the 
rain  drops  separating  the  sun-rays 
into  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow, 
and  making  a  glorious  arch,  span- 
ning the  horizon. 


§  27.  The  Three  Sons  of  Noah — 
Their  Conduct  and  predicted 
Future — Further  Promise  op 
the  Messiah.     Ch.  9  :  18-29. 

The  judgment  of  the  flood,  so  uni- 
versal, had  destroyed  sinners,  but 
sin  remained,  even  in  the  small  fam- 
ily of  Noah.  As  before  the  flood 
the  two  classes  of  men  were  repre- 
sented in  the  Sethites  and  the  Cain- 
ites,  so  now  these  classes  reappear  in 
the  races  of  Shem  and  Ham. 

18.  In  the  development  now  to 
appear,  we  naturally  turn  to  the 
sons  of  Noah,  to  see  whether  the 
promised  salvation  is  soon  to  come. 
Here  for  a  fourth  time  the  sons  of 
Noah  are  mentioned,  (see  ch.  5  :  32  ; 
6:10;  7:13,)  to  show  that  these 
alone  came  out  of  the  ark  as  the 
branches  into  which  the  human 
family  was  now  to  be  divided.  In 
the  new  development  now  to  be 
traced  out,  the  character  of  these 
sons  of  Noah  is  to  be  given  to  show 
that  the  hope  of  the  race  in  the  Mes- 
siah was  to  be  not  in  the  line  of 
Ham,  nor  of  Japhet,  but  of  Shem — 
leading  also  to  an  enlargement  of 
Japhet.  This  is  in  accordance  with 
what  is  seen  in  the  conduct  of  the 
brothers.  The  names  of  these  broth- 
ers, like  that  of  Noah,  are  signifi- 
cant. Sfwm  means  name,  fame,  re- 
nown;  Ham  signifies  heat;  Japheth 
means    enlargement,    or    spreading. 


193 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2446 


19  >'  These  are  the  three  sons  of  Noah  :   z  and  of  them  was  the 
whole  earth  overspread. 

20  And  Noah  began  to  be  aa  husbandman,  and  he  planted  a 
vineyard : 

21  And  he  drank  of  the  wine,  b  and  was  drunken  ;  and  he  was 
uncovered  within  his  tent. 


y  ch.   5:32.     z  ch.   10:32;    1   Chron.   1 :  4,  etc.     a  ch.   3:19,    23;   4: 
bProv.  20:  1;  1  Cor.  10:  12. 


Prov.  12:  11- 


Though  Japheth  was  the  eldest,  Shem 
is  named  first,  as  having  the  birth- 
right and  the  blessing  of  the  Messi- 
anic line.  Shem  is  so  named,  as  be- 
ing most  exalted  ;  Ham,  perhaps,  as 
occupying  afterwards  the  torrid  re- 
gions. The  same  name  is  applied  to 
Egypt,  and  in  the  Coptic  and  Sahidic 
signifies  also  blackness,  as  well  as 
heat.  Japheth — (spreading)  as  father 
of  the  largest  portion  of  the  human 
family  —  Celtic,  Persian,  Grecian, 
and  German  occupying  the  northern 
part  of  Asia,  and  all  of  Europe.  ^[  And 
Ham.  It  is  here  mentioned  that 
"  Ham  is  the  father  of  Canaan,  (so 
vs.  22)  to  prepare  us  for  the  impor- 
tant fact  that  Canaan  was  cursed 
because  of  Ham's  iniquity — that  is, 
that  Ham  was  cursed  in  his  genera- 
tions. Besides,  as  Moses  lived  and 
wrote  at  a  time  when  the  people  of 
God  were  to  enter  the  land  of  Prom- 
ise, and  drive  out  the  Canaanites,  it 
was  important  for  them  to  under- 
stand that  the  curse  of  God  rested 
upon  the  descendants  of  Canaan. 
Besides,  Canaan  is  named  as  being 
of  great  importance  in  the  history  of 
the  Israelites. 

19.  Whole  earth  overspread;  lit., 
divided — parcelled  out — (or  dispersed 
— naphtzah)  because  men  dispersed 
themselves  through  it.  These  broth- 
ers were  the  forefathers  of  those 
who  have  scattered  themselves  over 
the  earth,  and  divided  it  among 
themselves  for  a  habitation.  See 
ch.  10 :  25.    Notes. 

20.  An  husbandman;  lit.,  a  man 
of  the  ground  —  as  a  man  of  war 
means  a  warrior.  When  it  is  said, 
lie  "  began  to  be"  this,  it  is  not  meant 
that  now,  for  the  first,  he  took  up 


thi3  occupation,  but  that  this  was 
his  business.  It  may  refer  also  to 
the  interruption  that  the  building  of 
the  ark  and  the  deluge  had  occasion- 
ed. *][  Planted  a  vineyard.  The 
culture  of  the  grape  is  here  first 
mentioned.  It  has  been  an  ancient 
occupation  of  Western  Asiatics,  es- 
pecially in  Syria  and  Palestine.  The 
vine  probably  grew  spontaneouslv  in 
the  region  where  Noah  dwelt.  He 
gave  it  more  attention,  and  pressed 
the  juice  from  the  cluster  perhaps 
for  the  first.  Armenia  is  noted  for 
its  vines.  (Bitter,  Erd.,  Vol.  10,  p. 
319.) 

21.  The  folly  and  crime  of  Noah 
here  recorded  are  such  as  have  dis- 
graced all  ages.  He  may  have  been 
overtaken  in  this  fault  from  being 
unused  to  the  intoxicating  effects  ol 
the  wine.  But  it  was  probably  sen- 
sual indulgence  and  excess  which 
led  to  his  disgrace.  This  only  shows 
us  how  insidious  and  ruinous  is  this 
crime  of  intemperance  —  degrading 
the  fairest  character.  No  wonder 
that  the  law  of  Mohammed  in  the 
Koran  forbids  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drink.  Near  the  Dead  Sea,  as  we 
were  journeying  in  the  heat,  one  of 
our  attendants,  a  Mohammedan,  fell 
to  the  ground  exhausted.  A  physi- 
cian of  our  company  urged  upon  him 
some  brandy  from  his  flask,  as  the 
only  remedy  at  hand.  He  stoutly 
refused,  however,  regarding  it  as 
most  strictly  prohibited.  *[  He  was 
uncovered — rather,  Tie  uncovered  him- 
self So  intemperance  leads  to 
shame,  degrades  the  most  respecta- 
ble to  the  level  of  the  brute,  and 
subjects  the  wise  and  good  even  to 
derision  and  scorn.    Therefore  habit- 


B.  C.  2446.] 


CHAPTER  IX. 


193 


22  And  Ham,  the  father  of  Canaan,  saw  the  nakedness  of  his 
father,  and  told  his  two  brethren  without. 

23  c  And  Shem  and  Japheth  took  a  garment,  and  laid  it  upon 
both  their  shoulders,  and  went  backward,  and  covered  the  naked- 
ness of  their  father :  and  their  faces  were  backward,  and  they  saw- 
not  their  father's  nakedness. 

24  And  Noah  awoke  from  his  wine,  and  knew  what  his  young- 
er son  had  done  unto  him. 

25  And  he  said,  d  Cursed  be  Canaan;  e a  servant  of  servants 
shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren. 


c  Ex.  20  :  12  ;  Gal.  6:1.    d  Deut.  2T  :  16  ;  Josh.  9  :  23 ;  1  Kings  9  :  20,  21. 


ual  indulgence  in  intoxicating  drinks 
forfeits  Christian  character,  puts  a 
man's  actions  out  of  his'  own  con- 
trol, and  sets  a  most  pernicious  ex- 
ample in  the  family  and  in  society. 
"  Drunkenness  in  itself  deserves  as 
its  reward  that  they  who  deface  the 
image  of  their  heavenly  Father  in 
themselves,  should  become  a  laugh- 
ing stock  to  their  own  children." — 
Calvin. 

22.  The  sin  of  Ham  against  his 
erring  and  disgraced  father  is  here 
recorded  to  his  shame.  That  he  did 
something  to  his  father  besides  in- 
dulging himself  in  the  disgusting 
sight,  and  shamefully  making  it 
known,  is  implied  in  vs.  24.  What 
he  did  to  him  beyond  this  we  are 
not  told.  See  Lev.  18  :  6,  7.  He 
seems  to  have  mocked  his  father, 
and  in  the  spirit  of  derision,  doubt- 
less, he  told  his  brethren.  ^[  With- 
out. Outside  of  the  tent.  The  char- 
acter of  Ham  sufficiently  appears  in 
this  conduct,  so  opposite  to  that  of 
his  brothers. 

23.  The  modest  and  filial  charac- 
ter of  these  brothers  appears  here, 
and  is  quite  in  keeping  with  the  dis- 
tinction made  in  the  prophetic  pas- 
sage below. 

24.  Noah  awoke,  and  knew.  On 
his  awaking,  the  patriarch,  by  some 
means,  knew  the  wrong  that  had 
been  done  to  him  by  Ham.  It  may 
have  been  told  to  him  on  his  inquiry 
of  the  two  brothers.  Tf  His  younger 
son  ;  lit.,  his  son,  the  little  ;  meaning 
the  younger.      Some  infer  that  he 


was  the  youngest  son  of  Noah.  So 
Tuch,  Delitzsch,  Kndbel,  etc.  Bosen- 
muller  and  others  contend  that  Shem 
was  the  youngest,  as  in  five  other 
places  Ham  is  placed  second  in  the 
Ust.  Kurtz  makes  Ham  the  young- 
est son.  And  this  seems  the  more 
plausible,  as  the  fact  here  stated  may 
imply  the  kindred  fact  that  Canaan 
was  the  youngest  son  of  Ham.  Oe- 
senius  and  Ewald  so  understand  the 
term.  So  ch.  42  :  13,  15,  20,  32,  etc., 
1  Sam.  17 :  14.  The  names  seem  to 
some  to  be  arranged  according  to 
their  rhythm  and  sound.  Others 
hold  that  they  stand  in  the  order  of 
their  theocratic  importance.  Shem 
first,  as  most  exalted ;  Ham  next, 
whose  posterity  was  most  important 
to  the  theocracy. 

25.  Noah  here,  in  the  language  of 
prophetic  blessing  and  curse,  pre- 
dicts what  is  to  come  to  pass  in  the 
history  of  those  nations  which  should 
descend  from  his  sons.  Some  have 
sought  to  evade  the  force  of  the 
prophecy  by  denying  its  prophetic 
character,  and  pretending  that  this 
is  only  the  rash  language  of  Noah, 
recent  from  his  wine.  But  how  will 
such  profane  dealing  with  Scripture 
evade  the  force  of  history,  which  so 
confirms  the  prophecy  ? 

Observe. — The  manner  of  Scrip- 
ture prophecy  is  illustrated  here. 
1.  The  prediction  takes  its  rise  from 
a  characteristic  incident.  The  con- 
duct of  the  brothers  was  in  itself 
seemingly  of  slight  importance,  but 
it  betrayed   dispositions  that   were 


194 


GENESIS.  [B  C.  2440. 


highly  significant.  2.  The  predic- 
tion refers  in  terms  to  the  near  fu- 
ture, and  to  the  outward  condition 
of  the  parties .  concerned.  3.  Under 
these  familiar  phrases,  it  foreshad- 
ows the  distant  future,  and  the  in- 
ward as  well  as  the  outward  state  of 
the  human  family.  4.  It  lays  out 
the  destiny  of  the  whole  race  from 
its  very  starting  point.  These  sim- 
ple laws  will  be  found  to  charac- 
terize the  main  body  of  the  pre- 
dictions of  Scripture."  —  Murphy. 
Tf  Canaan.  Ham  receives  in  his  own 
son  the  recompense  for  that  wicked 
conduct,  of  which  he  himself,  as  the 
son  of  Noah,  had  been  guilty.  It 
was  grievous  to  Noah  that  the  son 
who,  as  being  the  youngest,  would 
be  most  looked  to  for  the  farthest 
transmission  of  his  religious  heri- 
tage, had  proved  the  transgressor. 
So  Ham  is  given  up  to  the  gloomy 
prospect  of  a  curse  resting  upon  his 
remotest  posterity,  through  his 
youngest  son,  as  some  suppose.  (But 
it  is  not  certain  that  Canaan  was 
Ham's  voungest  son.  Compare  ch. 
10  :  6  ;  i0  : 1  with  9  :  24.)  Hengsten- 
herg  says,  "  Ham  is  punished  in  his 
eons,  because  he  sinned  as  a  son ; 
and  in  Canaan,  because  Canaan  fol- 
lowed most  closely  in  his  father's 
footsteps."  Whether  or  not  we  are 
to  regard  Ham  as  the  youngest,  Ca- 
naan is  named — it  may  be  as  being 
most  specially  related  to  the  history 
of  Israel.  The  prophecy  has  become 
history.  The  curse  of  temporal  and 
spiritual  bondage  has,  in  fact,  rested 
upon  the  descendants  of  Ham.  A  por- 
tion of  the  Canaanites  became  bond- 
men to  Israel,  who  were  Shemites. 
The  early  Babylonians,  Phenicians, 
Carthaginians,  and  Egyptians,  who 
were  all  Hamites,  were  subjugated 
by  the  Assyrians,  (Shemites,)  and  by 
the  Persians,  the  Macedonians,  and 
the  Romans,  who  were  Japhetites. 
And  in  modern  times,  most  of  the 
European  nations  have  traded  in 
African  slaves.  As  the  other  de- 
scendants of  Ham  are  not  mentioned 
in  the  prophecy,  we  may  presume 
that  they  are  included  here  with  Ca- 


naan. Candlish  ■  understands  that 
'•  Canaan  specially  and  singly  is 
cursed,"  though  the  prophecy  says 
nothing  against  the  participation  of 
Ham's  other  children  in  their  broth 
er's  doom  ;  and  further,  the  posterity 
of  Canaan  mixing  themselves  by 
dispersion  and  by  colonization  with 
the  other  descendants  of  Ham,  may 
have  involved  them  more  or  less  in 
their  doom  !  The  curse  is  upon  Ca- 
naan as  representing  his  descendants 
generally,  it  is  upon  his  race  in  their 
collective  character.  Yet  the  Syro- 
Phenician  woman  is  sought  out  by 
Jesus ;  and  the  Canaanite,  though 
judged  to  be  too  bad  even  to  be  en- 
slaved to  the  chosen  people,  could, 
after  the  third  generation,  be  receiv- 
ed into  fellowship.  When  God 
would  bless  Shem  and  Japheth, 
Canaan  should  vainly  resist  it. 
And  if  God  please  to  bless  Ham 
in  the  last  days,  other  races  shall 
resist  in  vain.  It  is  not  said  that 
Ham  shall  never  receive  blessings 
through  Shem,  only  that  he  shall  be 
"  a  servant  of  servants  to  his  breth- 
ren." Even  through  this  servitude 
God  might  appoint  to  give  him  the 
gospel  blessings  and  the  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  makes  free.  The 
facts  of  history  are  wonderful  in  this 
direction  ;  and  it  stands  on  record, 
"  Princes  shall  come  out  of  Egypt. 
Ethiopia  shall  soon  stretch  out  her 
hands  unto  God,"  Ps.  68:31.  Just 
as  the  blessing  pronounced  on  Shem 
was  to  be  concentrated  on  the  Jew- 
ish people,  so  was  the  curse  pro- 
nounced on  Ham  to  centre  upon 
Canaan.  "  Ham  is  so  far  from  being 
exempt  from  the  curse,  that  God,  by 
involving  his  son  with  him,  aggra- 
vates his  condemnation.  While 
God  held  the  whole  seed  of  Ham  as 
obnoxious  to  the  curse,  He  mentions 
the  Canaanites  by  name  as  those 
whom  He  would  curse  above  all 
others.  And  hence  we  infer  that 
this  judgment  proceeded  from  God 
because  it  was  proved  by  the  event 
itself." — Calvin.  It  is  reason  enough 
for  this  curse  upon  Canaan  being 
named  here,  that  this  gives  the  clew 


B.  C.  2446.] 


CHAPTER  IX. 


1U5 


26  And  he  said,  f  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Shem ;    and  Ca- 
naan shall  be  his  servant. 


f  Ps.  144:15;  Heb.  11  :  16. 


to  an  important  chapter  in  the  after 
history  of  the  covenant  people  when 
they  had  to  deal  with  the  Canaan- 
ites  so  severely,  under  the  Divine 
authority  and  direction.  *j  A  ser- 
vant of  servants.  This  phrase  means 
a  most  abject  servant.  See  Num. 
3  :  32.  Slavery  is  here  denounced  as 
a  curse.  It  is  involuntary  servitude, 
with  all  its  attendant  evils,  that  is 
here  meant.  Nor  does  this  doom 
upon  a  cursed  people  justify  a  system 
of  chattel  slavery  on  a  plea  of  exe- 
cuting God's  will.  This  is  too  ab- 
surd to  be  seriously  pretended.  %  To 
his  brethren.  If  we  limit  the  curse 
to  Canaan,  then  his  brethren  here 
may  mean  the  other  descendants  of 
Ham.  The  Africans  have  been  mer- 
ciless slave  dealers.  But  the  sense 
is  wider.  Canaan  became  a  menial 
servant  of  Shem,  for  the  Israelites 
took  possession  of  the  promised  land, 
and  those  of  the  Canaanites  who 
were  not  exterminated,  became  the 
lowest  slaves  to  them.  (See  Josh. 
9  :  23.)  So  also  was  Canaan  enslaved 
to  Japheth,  when  Tyre  and  Carthage 
submitted  to  the  yoke  of  Greeks  and 
Romans.  (So  Hannibal  cried  out, 
"I  own  the  fortune  of  Carthage.") 
So  also  the  negro  race  have  become 
the  most  abject  of  slaves.  And  it  is 
well  understood  that  the  African 
continent  was  peopled  by  the  de- 
scendants of  Ham.  "  Cush,  Mizraim, 
Phut,  and  Canaan."  Some  of  these 
also  peopled  Western  Asia,  which 
has  groaned  under  the  Turkish 
yoke.  Mede  remarks,  "  There  never 
has  been  a  son  of  Ham  who  has  sha- 
ken a  sceptre  over  the  head  of  Ja- 
pheth. Shem  hath  subdued  Japheth, 
and  Japheth  hath  subdued  Shem,  but 
Ham  never  subdued  either."  Raiv- 
linson's  researches  have  shown  that 
the  Canaanites  proper  were  not 
Shemites,  but  had  a  common  origin 
with  the  Egyptians,  Ethiopians,  and 
Libyans,  and  which  he  calls  Scythic 


or  Hamite.  They  may  have  adopted 
the  Shemitish  tongue  by  contact. 
Gerlach  remarks  that  "  Noah  curses 
here  that  son  of  Ham,  who,  before 
all  the  rest,  was  the  principal  propa- 
gator of  his  father's  sins,  and  the 
most  conspicuous  in  the  history  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.  True,  the 
Phenicians  and  the  Egyptians  had 
an  earthly  and  sensual  culture ;  but 
all  the  other  people  of  this  wide 
spread  family  of  Hamjtes,  especially 
the  negroes  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Au- 
stralia, from  the  aboriginal  popula- 
tion in  those  lands,  are  sunk  in 
deep  degradation,  and  almost  brutal- 
ized. It  is  the  office  of  Christianity 
to  remove  this  original  curse,  when 
the  Morian's  land  shall  stretch  out 
their  hands  unto  God."  Egypt  is 
called  in  Scripture  "  the  land  of 
Ham,"  (Ps.  78  :  51 ;  105  :  23 ;  106 :  22- ) 
It  is  conjectured  by  some  that  Ca- 
naan was  a  partaker  of  his  father's 
sin,  somehow,  on  this  occasion  ;  but 
of  this  we  have  no  proof.  This 
branch  of  his  family  was  that  which 
afterwards  most  perpetuated  the  fa- 
ther's sin  and  shame.  This  appears 
from  their  gross  sensuality  in  wor- 
ship, as  is  shown  in  the  case  of  Sod- 
om-, and  all  the  cities  of  the  plain. 
See  also  the  description  of  the  sins 
of  the  peoTjle  inhabiting  the  Holy 
Land,  Lev.  18  :  20 ;  Deut.  12  :  31. 

Observe.  —  The  Hebrews  aftei'- 
wards  took  possession  of  the  Holy 
Land,  and  drove  out  the  Canaanites 
by  Divine  direction,  and  in  accor- 
dance with  this  denouncement  of 
servitude  upon  that  people. 

26.  Blessed  be,  etc.  Lit.,  Blessed  be 
Jehovah,  the  God  of  Shem.  Blessing 
is  ascribed  to  Jehovah,  (the  redeem- 
ing name  of  God,)  who  is  here  called 
the  God  of  Shem.  Thanks  are  ren- 
dered for  the  covenant  relation  into 
which  God  is  to  stand  to  this  branch 
of  Noah's  posterity.  Here  we  have 
a  second  great  Messianic  prediction, 


106 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2446. 


27  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  E  and  lie  shari  dwell  in  the  tents 
of  Shem ;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant. 

gEph.  2:  13,14;  3:6. 


which  contains  an  important  unfold- 
ing of  the  gospel  promise.  As  at 
the  Fall,  there  was  a  promise  appro- 
priate to  that  time,  so  here,  at  the 
Flood,  is  a  further  advance  in  the 
Messianic  idea.  The  promise  is  here 
further  defined  to  be  in  the  line  of 
Shem,  as  the  progenitor  of  the  Mes- 
siah. The  idea,  which  is  afterwards 
more  fully  expressed,  that  the  salva- 
tion of  man  is  to  flow  down  the  ages 
in  the  line  of  Shem,  (Gen.  12  :  3,)  v» 
here  given  for  the  first  tim~,  kuci  in 
the  most  general  outline.  The  bless- 
ing implies  tnat  Jehovah's  gracious 
presence  is  to  be  with  Shem — that 
"  Jehovah,  the  God  of  salvation,  who 
decrees  and  executes  the  counsel  of 
salvation,  is  the  God  of  Shem.  Shem 
is  the  chosen  one  of  Jehovah — the 
promised  salvation  is  to  come  not 
from  the  race  of  Japheth,  nor  from 
that  of  Ham,  but  from  the  tents  of 
Shem." — Kurtz.  "  Jehovah  "  being 
the  name  by  which  God  was  to  re- 
veal Himself  in  history  as  the  Cove- 
nant God  and  Redeemer — implying 
the  advent  of  Him  who  was  to  come 
— the  prophetic  idea  contemplates 
this  development  as  to  be  in  the  line 
of  this  son  of  Noah.  "Evidently 
this  blessing  refers  in  the  first  in- 
stance to  the  line  of  Eber,  who  is 
singled  out  from  all  the  other  de- 
scendants of  Shem,  (ch.  10  :  21,)  and 
ultimately  to  the  family  of  Abraham, 
with  whom  the  covenant  was  estab- 
lished, (ch.  12.)  It  is  the  high  dis- 
tinction of  Israel  that  is  here  fore- 
told."— Candlish.  ^[  And  Canaan. 
This  is  a  repetition  of  what  was  said 
in  the  preceding  verse — and  is  now 
applied  to  each  of  the  sons  by  name. 
The  Heb.  reads  more  exactly,  »ervant 
to  tin' in — and  the  plural  form  refers 
to  those  who  should  descend  from 
Shem — not  as  Bush  understands  it, 
"to  Shem  and  Jehovah  conjointly*" 
This  was  fullilled  when  Israel  be- 
came possessors  of  the  land  of  Ca~ 


,  naan,  and  extirpated  the  Canaanites 
for  the  most  part,  and  reduced  the 
remainder  to  entire  subjection  — 
I  "  bondmen  and  hewers  of  wood,  and 
!  drawers  of  water  for  the  house  of 
my  God,"  (Josh.  9  :  23.)  "  The  Ca- 
naanite  was  in  the  land/'  (ch.  12  : 6  • 
Exod.  3  :  8,  etc.) 

27.  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth. 
Some  have  understood  the  verb  here 
to  sigjiif;; ,  shall  persuade,  or,  allure. 
Ii"  is  found  once  in  that  sense,  but  in 
a  bad  sense  of  alluring  to  deceive, 
(Jer.  20  :  7,)  besides  that  it  is  followed 
by  an  accusative,  and  not  as  here  by 
a  dative  with  a  preposition.  The 
meaning  is  doubtless,  God  shall  make 
broad — extend — spread  out  Japheth, 
or,  make  room  for  Japheth,  referring 
to  local  extension,  and  not  used  here 
in  a  tropical  sense.  So  Sept.,  dial., 
Arab.,  Vulg.,  Syr.,  who  understand 
it  of  enlarging  the  territorial  bounds 
of  the  Japhetic  race.  This  has  come 
to  pass.  The  Japhetites  had  the 
north  of  Western  Asia,  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  interior  region,  and  all 
of  Europe.  So  the  Japhetites  are 
found  to  have  the  colonizing  spirit, 
and  are  characterized  by  extensive 
migrations  as  the  Europeans  of  this 
day.  ^[  And  he  shall  dwell — shall 
tabernacle.  Some  understand  it, 
"  God  shall  dwell,'"  etc.,  (as  the  Sche- 
kinah.)  So  Baumgarten,  Knobel, 
etc.  But  the  verse  is  spoken  of 
Japheth,  as  the  other  verses  have 
referred  to  the  other  sons — Japheth 
shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem — that 
is,  as  this  phrase  implies — he  shall 
be  intimately  associated  witli  him, 
and  shall  partake  of  his  inheritance 
— "  he  shall  dwell  in  the  (spiritual) 
tents  of  Shem,  and  be  received  into 
the  fellowship  of  that  salvation 
which  is  to  proceed  from  the  race  of 
Shem."  —  Hengstenberg.  It  would 
seem  that  the  filial  conduct  in  which 
Shem  and  Japheth  had  acted  to- 
gether  was  to  be  rewarded  by  a  bless 


B.  C.  2097.1 


CHAPTER  IX. 


197 


28  ^f  And  Noah  lived  after  the  flood  three  hundred,  and  fifty 
years. 

29  And  all  the  days  of  Noah  were  nine  hundred   and  fifty 
years  :  and  he  died. 


ing  in  which,  as  brothers,  they 
should  share  and  be  brought  into 
most  cordial  agreement,  and  com- 
munion. "  It  points,  also,  to  the 
ideal  union  in  which  these  brothers 
should  combine  for  highest  pur- 
poses." Some  make  it  refer  to  the 
conquests  which  Europeans  have 
made  over  Asiatics  and  to  the  Brit- 
ish possessions  in  India.  But  it  is 
replied  that  this  could  scarcely  be 
the  idea,  as  Noah  does  not  curse 
Sheru,  but  bless  him — and  this  would 
be  a  prophecy  of  damage  to  Shem, 
and  subjection  by  means  of  the 
Japhetites,  which  seems  foreign  from 
the  idea.  In  the  Greek  mythology 
Japetus  was  regarded  as  the  ancestor 
of  the  human  race,  and  it  would 
seem  to  be  founded  upon  this  history. 
See  ch.  9  :  27  ;  10  :  5.  And  we  may 
suppose  that  the  European  conquests 
in  Asia  are  embraced  in  this  proph- 
ecy of  Japheth's  enlargement,  in  the 
sense  before  given,  of  their  com- 
mingling as  brothers.  The  chief 
reference  is  to  the  most  important 
fact  that  the  Japhetic  race  were  to 
receive  spiritual  blessings  through 
the  line  of  Shem — as  the  true  relig- 
ion has  been  received  by  them  from 
the  Oriental  world.  In  Paul's  mis- 
sionary journey  that  was  a  very 
remarkable  call  which  came  to  him 
in  vision  from  a  man  of  Macedonia, 
entreating  him,  "Come  over  and 
help  us."  So  Peter's  vision  of  the 
ingathering  of  the  Gentiles  was  on 
the  coast  of  the  sea,  looking  out 
towards  the  isles  and  the  western 
world.  The  great  results  were  in 
the  line  of  this  prediction,  and  so 
have  continued  ever  since — in  the 
extensive  conversions  of  the  western 
races  to  Christianity.  The  Japhetic 
nations  embody  the  activity  and 
progress  of  history,  both  commercial 
and  political,  and  fulfil  the  idea  of 
snlargement,   while    they  have  re- 


ceived the  true  religion  from  the 
Asiatics,  and  the  Gentile  church  has 
even  supplanted  the  Jewish.  See 
Isa.  46  :  10;  1  Peter  1 :  25  ;  2  Peter 
1 :  19.  T[  And  Canaan,  etc.  Canaan 
should  also  be  a  servant  of  the 
Japhetic,  or  European  races.  This  has 
notably  come  to  pass  in  the  enslave- 
ment of  Ham's  descendants  to  the 
nations  of  the  western  world.  There 
has  always  been  manifest  a  sym- 
pathy between  Shem  and  Japheth 
in  their  descendants,  and  an  antipa- 
thy between  them  and  the  Hamites. 
It  was  Canaan,  who,  more  than  any 
other  of  Ham's  descendants  was  to 
come  into  contact  with  Shem  and 
Japheth,  and  was  to  interfere  with 
them  in  their  enjoyment  of  the  priv- 
ileges implied  in  their  respective 
benedictions.  When  the  blessing 
was  ready  to  descend  upon  Shem, 
and  Israel  was  to  inherit  the  bless- 
ing of  the  Promised  Land,  "  the 
Canaanite  was  in  the  land,"  and  in 
the  way  of  the  blessing,  (ch.  12  :  6.) 
And  so  in  the  course  of  Japheth's 
predicted  enlargement,  the  main  ob- 
struction with  which  he  met  arose 
from  Canaan.  Carthage,  a  colony 
of  Tyre,  sprang  from  Sidon,  one  of 
the  sons  of  Canaan,  and  was  the 
rival  of  Rome.     See  Candlish. 

"The  historian  recognizes  these 
as  the  salient  points  in  the  expe- 
rience of  the  three  races,  so  long  as 
they  continue  apart.  The  time  is 
approaching  when  this  strange  inter- 
mediate development  will  come  to  a 
happy  issue  in  the  re-union  of  all  thf 
members  of  the  human  family  ac- 
cording to  clearer  and  farther  reach- 
ing prophecies  yet  to  be  delivered." — 
Murphy, 

23.  A  few  figures  here  given  close 
the  history  of  Noah,  and  the  nest 
paragraph  occupies  us  with  that  of 
his  sons — in  their  dispersion. 


193 


GENESIS. 
CHAPTER    X 


[B.  C.  2097 


TVTOW  these  are  the  generations  of  the  sons  of  Noah ;  Shem, 
1 1  Ham,  and  Japheth :  a  and  unto  them  were  sons  born  after  the 
Bool. 

a  ch.  9  :  1,  7, 19. 


CHAPTER  X. 

§  28.  Ethnological  Record  — 
Peopling  of  the  Earth.  Ch. 
10  : 1-32. 

This  chapter  furnishes  a  table  of 
national  descent  and  dispersion  most 
important  at  this  stage  of  the  his- 
tory— showing  us,  in  general,  how 
the  earth  was  settled  by  the  descend- 
ants of  the  three  sons  of  Noah  ;  and 
giving  us  the  most  valuable  docu- 
ment which  ethnological  science  has 
ever  found.  Now  when  in  the  his- 
tory, the  nations  are  to  be  left  to 
walk  in  their  own  ways,  for  a  sea- 
son, (Acts  14 :  16,)  this  register  of 
them  is  kept,  to  show  that  none  of 
them  are  omitted  entirely  from  the 
councils  of  eternal  love.  —  Kurtz. 
The  special  interest  attaching  to 
this  map  of  the  nations,  is  that  in 
the  sacred  history  it  shows  the  gene- 
alogical position  which  Israel  holds 
among  these  seventy  nations  of  the 
world.  Accordingly  we  find  the  dif- 
ferent people  brought  more  or  less 
prominently  to  view,  according  as 
they  more  or  less  concern  the  history 
of  the  covenant  people.  Here  occurs 
a  separation  and  dispersion  over  the 
earth  on  the  basis  of  the  predictions 
which  Noah  has  just  uttered  ;  point- 
ing to  a  re-union  of  all  nations,  and 
kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues  in 
Jesus  Christ,  which  has  been  already 
realized,  in  the  miniature,  at  Pente- 
cost, (Acts  2  : 5.) 

This  chapter  occurs  here  in  the 
history  to  show  the  connexion  of  the 
event  with  Noah's  prophecy.  But 
properly  it  is  preceded  by  the  events 
recorded  in  the  following  chapter, 
(ch.  11,)  where  the  immediate  cause 
of  the  dispersion  is  given. 


This  table  is  constructed  so  as  to 
show  the  descent  and  the  geograph- 
ical settlements. 

The  course  of  development,  since 
the  flood,  had  now  to  be  arrested 
again,  by  still  another  Divine  inter- 
position— not  a  flood,  to  drown,  but 
confusion  of  tongues  to  scatter — and 
thus,  to  accomplish,  also,  the  settle- 
ment of  the  whole  earth,  in  view  of 
the  great  and  glorious  plan  of  re- 
demption, (Rev.  7:9.)  The  stamp 
imprinted  on  the  three  great  classes 
of  nations  by  this  prophetic  utter- 
ance of  Noah,  remains  impressed 
upon  them  to  this  day,  and  the  far- 
reaching  prediction  is  still  working 
out  towards  the  glorious  consumma- 
tion. Some  have  objected  that  such 
a  register  of  the  nations  implies  a 
knowledge  of  national  genealogies 
quite  too  extensive  for  Moses'  time  ; 
and  that,  therefore,  this  could  not  be 
from  his  pen.  But  this  objection 
leaves  out  of  view  the  Divine  sour- 
ce supposed  in  Inspiration.  Besides, 
Hengstenberg  has  shown  {Egypt  and 
the  Books  of  Moses)  that,  on  the 
Egyptian  monuments,  not  a  few  of 
these  names  have  been  found.  Raw- 
linson  has  also  shown  that  some  of 
these  names,  which  were  long 
thought  to  have  been  fictitious,  are 
found  on  the  bricks  of  Nineveh,  (e.  g., 
Erech,  Calneh,  vs.  10,  etc.) 

This  table  brings  down  the  devel- 
opment and  spread  of  the  nations  to 
the  time  of  Moses.  (See  vs.  19, 
where  Sodom,  and  Gomorrah,  and 
Admah,  and  Zeboim,  cities  of  the 
plain,  are  spoken  of  as  yet  existing.) 
All  researches  in  ethnology,  or  the 
science  of  national  origin  and  devel- 
opment, have  found  this  table  to  be 
most  fully  consonant  with  all  the 
facts,  and  the  only  ancient  and  au- 
thentic synopsis  of  the  earth's  settle- 


B.  C.  2097.J 


CHAPTER  X. 


199 


2  b  The  sons  of  Japheth  ;  Gomer,  and  Magog,  and  Madai,  and 
Javan,  and  Tubal,  and  Meshech,  and  Tiras. 

3  And  the  sons  of  Gomer ;  Asbkenaz,  and  Riphath,  and  To- 
garraah. 

4  And  the  sons  of  Javan ;  Elishah,  and  Tarshish,  Kittim,  and 
Dodanim. 


b  1  Chron.  1  :  5,  etc. 


ment.  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  says, "  This 
is  undoubtedly  the  most  authentic 
record  we  possess  in  the  department 
of  ethnology." 

The  object  of  the  chapter  is  to 
show  how  the  earth  was  divided 
among  the  sons  of  Noah  and  their 
descendants,  so  as  to  enable  us  to 
follow  the  respective  branches  of 
Noah's  family  through  the  histories 
indicated  in  the  prophetic  outline, 
(see  vss.  5,  18,  20,  32,)  and  so  to  con- 
nect all  these  events  with  the  grand 
unfolding  of  Messianic  promise. 
Accordingly,  we  find  the  genealogies 
given  out  of  their  order.  Japheth 
first,  and  Ham  next,  because  Ham's 
lineage  through  Canaan,  Mitzraim 
and  Cush,  stands  more  closely  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  the  cove- 
nant people  than  that  of  Japheth. 
And  so,  also,  the  lineage  of  Shem 
comes  last,  (ch.  11 :  10-32,)  as  that  in 
which  the  Messianic  promise  ran — 
thus  connecting  itself  with  the  sub- 
sequent history. 

1.  The  generations,  i.  e.,  origins — 
geneses — developments.  Here  we  find 
the  phraseology  we  have  met  before 
— indicating  the  commencement  of  a 
new  portion  of  the  history.  In  vss. 
5,  20,  etc.,  it  is  declared  to  be  the  ob- 
ject of  the  historian  to  give  us  these 
"  generations  "  according  to  the  res- 
pective "tongues,  families  and  na- 
tions." Hence  we  find  not  only  per- 
sons, but  peoples,  mentioned  in  the 
list.  The  persons  mentioned  are 
».hiefly  such  as  are  heads  of  people, 
'.heir  forefathers.  In  such  cases  the 
Dhrase,  were  horn — begotten — is  used 
»n  the  general  sense  of  expressing 
derivation.  Havernick  has  shown 
how  strikingly  this  method  differs 
from  that   of  ancient  mythologies, 


1  (Greek,  etc.,)  "  in  which  the  individ- 
ual is  specially  introduced  for  the 
people,"  in  the  form  of  diffuse  leg- 
ends, utterly  unlike  these  compact 
tabular  records.  Observe. — (1.)  The 
plural  forms,  (vs.  13  and  14,)  as  Lu- 
dim — denoting  people — (and  patro- 
nymics, vss.  16-18,)  are,  with  two  ex- 
ceptions, confined  to  the  descend- 
ants of  Ham — that  is,  those  of  Mitz- 
raim and  Canaan.  The  reason  most 
likely  is,  that  in  the  subsequent  his- 
tory it  is  the  races,  not  the  progeni- 
tors, who  are  mentioned  in  connex- 
ion with  the  Hebrews.  (2.)  The  de- 
scendants of  Canaan  are  placed  in 
special  prominence,  (eleven  in  num- 
ber,) and  those  of  Arphaxad  (seven- 
teen in  number,)  on  account  of  the 
position  these  races  occupy  in  the 
subsequent  transactions. 

2-5.  The  sons  of  Japheth.  Though 
we  find  the  sons  of  Noah  elsewhere 
in  the  inverse  order  of  this  tabular 
list,  yet  the  reasons  for  thus  invert- 
ing the  order  here  is  to  close  with 
Shem,  so  as  to  proceed  in  his  line  with 
the  patriarchs  leading  to  Abraham. 

A.  Of  Japheth.    Seven  sons,  and 
their  descendants,  including  the  na- 
tions of  the  north  and  west— four- 
teen primitive  nations. 
I.  Gomer. — These   seem   to  be   the 
powerful  mountain  tribes,  war- 
like and  formidable.     These  are 
the  extended  race  of  the  Cim- 
merians,  Cymri,   Cymbri,    who 
migrated  from  this  central  re- 
gion   of    Ararat    to    the  north- 
west, and   settled  north  of  the 
Black    Sea,   whence    we    have, 
with  the  ancients,  the  mention 
of    the   Cimmerian    Bosphorus, 
and  the  modern  peninsula  of  tha 
Crimea.     This  people  is  named 


200 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2097 


in  Ezek.  38  : 6,  as  one  who  should 
come  with  the  host  of  Gog. 
Some  trace  them  to  Cambria 
(Wales,)  and  Cumberland.  Jose- 
phus  calls  the  Galatians,  "  Go- 
marc?"  The  Ghomari,  a  people 
in  Bactria,  near  the  Oxus,  is 
mentioned  by  Ptolemy,  one  of  the 
most  remote  northern  nations. 

(a.)  Ashkenaz.  Some  under- 
stand this  to  be  the  Asen  race. 
(As — genus  —  gens,)  who  with 
Odin  migrated  from  the  east, 
according  to  ancient  tradition, 
and  the  same  as  the  Germans. 
The  first  king  of  the  Saxons  was 
called  Aschanes.  Traces  of  the 
name  appear  in  the  names  Scan- 
dinavia, Asia,  Azof  and  Sachsen, 
(Saxon.)  Kalisch  identifies  these 
with  the  Bhegenes,  as  Josephus 
seems  to  do — the  ancient  town, 
Rhagae,  being  the  capital — one 
day's  journey  south  of  the  Cas- 
pian Sea.  In  Jer.  51  :  27,  this 
tribe  is  associated  with  Ararat 
and  Minni — who  were  to  join  an 
alliance  for  the  destruction  of 
Babylon.  Their  district  is  the 
western  part  of  Asia  Minor. 

(b.)  Biphath.  This  is  under- 
stood of  the  Celts.  The  name 
is  traced  in  the  Riphsean  moun- 
tains and  perhaps  in  the  Car- 
pathian. Their  district  is  the 
southern  coast  of  the  Black  Sea. 

(c.)  Togarmah.  These  are  the 
Armenians,  whose  historians  say 
that  their  first  king  was  named. 
Thorgom. — (Bitter's  Erd.,  vol.  x., 
p.  258.)  These  are  located  by 
Kalisch  on  the  Tauric  peninsula, 
(Crimea,)  a  valiant  nation  of  the 
north,  prepared  to  join  Gomer 
in  the  expeditions  of  Gog,  Ezek. 
38  :  6, — partly  agricultural  and 
partlv  military  in  their  charac- 
ter, Eze'k.  27  :  14. 
Magog. — These  are  the  Scythians 
— the  people  of  the  Caucasus, 
who  bear  the  name  of  Gog,  and 
the  prefix  ma  is  local,  denoting 
the  place,  region  ;  so  that  Magog 
would  be,  those  of  Gog ;  which 
is  the  name  of  a  region  in  the 


extreme  north.  Gog  and  Ma- 
gog are  mentioned  together, 
Ezek.  chs.  28,  39,  and  in  Rev. 
20  :  8,  as  they  who  are  to  invade 
the  camp  of  the  saints.  The 
name  Magog  seems  to  com- 
prise several  nations  in  the  re- 
gion beyond  Media  and  the  Cau- 
casian mountains,  to  the  north 
and  east.  The  king  of  Magog 
is  called  Gog,  an  appellative  like 
Pharaoh,  Caesar,  Czar.  But  in 
later  times  Gog  is  coupled  as  a 
nation  with  Magog,  and  so  in 
the  New  Testament.  See  Ezek. 
38:2;  39  :  1-8;  Rev.  20:8. 

III.  Madai. — These  are  the  Medes. 
Bawlinson  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  here  is  indicated  what 
Schlegel  discovered,  that  the 
principal  nations  of  Europe  have 
an  affinity  with  the  Aryan,  or, 
Indo-Persic  stock,  a  fact  which 
the  term  Indo-European  embod- 
ies ;  since  here  we  find  the 
Madai,  or  Medes,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Gymri,  and  Javan,  or 
the  Ionians.  Media,  as  the 
name  indicates,  was  held  to  be 
the  centre  of  Asia.  They  were 
subject  to  the  Assyrian  Empire, 
but  rebelled  against  Shalmane- 
ser  and  won  their  independence. 
They  became  incorporated  in 
the  Persian  empire.  Medes  and 
Persians  are  thence  spoken  of 
together. 

IV.  Javan. — The  Ionians,  or  Greeks, 
(Sanscrit,  Javana.)  "  The  bar- 
barians call  all  the  Greeks  Ion- 
ians." (Schol.  ad  Aristoph.)  The 
Old  Persian,  "  Jima.'  The  Old 
Egyptian,  "  Jounan,"  (Champol- 
lion,  Gr.  Egypt.)  Alexander  is 
called  "  the  king  of  Javan  "  in  a 
wide  sense,  (Dan.  8:21.)  The 
name  Javan,  among  the  Greeks, 
became  Ion,  which  was  also 
changed  to  Ikon.  The  Ionians 
were  the  original  inhabitants  of 
Greece,  who  called  themselves 
"  Autochtlienes,"  as  claiming  to 
be  sprung  directly  from  the 
earth,  in  opposition  to  the  Dori- 
ans.   In  Isa.  66  :  19,  the  nama 


B.  C.  2097.] 


CHAPTER  X. 


201 


5  By  these  were  c  the  isles  of  the   Gentiles   divided  in  their 

c  Ps.  72  :  10 ;  Jer.  2  :  10  ;  25  :  22  ;  Zeph.  2:11. 


Javan  is  coupled  with  Tarshish, 
Pul,  and  Liid,  and  more  partic- 
ularly with  Tubal,  and  "  the  isles 
afa/r  off"  as  representatives  of 
the  Gentile  world.  Also  in  Ezek. 
27  :  13,  the  name  occurs  coupled 
with  Tubal  and  Meshech.  So, 
again,  in  Zech.  9  :  13,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Grseco-Syrian  Em- 
pire. The  name  occurs  in  the 
Assyrian  inscriptions  in  the 
time  of  Sargon,  b.  c.  709,  in  the 
form  of  Taviian,  or  Yunan — as 
describing  the  Isle  of  Cyprus, 
where  the  Assyrians  tir3t  came 
in  contact  with  the  Greek  pow- 
er. The  Ionians  are  spoken  of 
as  those  to  whom  Hebrew  cap- 
tives were  sold  by  Assyrian 
kings,  and  the  prophet  Zecha- 
riah  announces  the  avenging  of 
that  wickedness.  Javan  seems 
here  used  for  all  the  western 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  J 

(a.)  Elishah.  The  Eolians.  | 
So  Josephus,  Knobel  and  Furst. 
Elis  was  an  Eolian  settlement, 
and  seems  like  another  form  of 
the  name.  It  was  the  western 
territory  of  Peloponessus,  or 
Hellas,  the  middle  of  Greece. 
Ezekiel  mentions  Elishah  as  an 
island,  from  which  purple  stuffs 
were  imported  into  Phenicia ; 
and  we  learn  that  on  the  coasts 
of  Peloponessus  and  of  many 
Greek  islands,  the  shell-fish  was 
found,  from  which  the  far  famed 
Tyrian  purple  was  extracted. 
The  name  may  here  include 
Greece,  generallv. 

(b.)  Tarshish.'  The  Tyrseni, 
Tuscans,  or  Etruscans.  This 
Pelasgic-Tyrsenic  race,  the  great 
traders  of  remote  antiquity,  col- 
onized the  east  and  south  of 
Spain,  and  north  of  Italy  ;  per- 
haps from  Tarsus,  in  Cilicia. 
According  to  Isaiah,  (23  :  10,) 
the  original  inhabitants  of 
Tarshish    were    much    Dppress- 


ed  by  their  Phenician  masters. 
The  famous  merchant  ships 
which  these  traders  used,  were 
models,  and  the  "  ships  of  Tarsh- 
ish" became  the  prophetic  name 
for  the  largest  commercial  ves- 
sels of  the  latter  days.  Strabo 
states  it  as  the  current  belief 
that  Tarshish  was  located  on  the 
Delta  of  the  river  Gaudalquiver, 
which  bore,  also,  the  name  of 
"  the  silver-bedded  Tartessus." 
And  it  may  be,  that,  as  the  whole 
region  of  Andalusia  was  called 
Tartessus,  so  it  was  meant  here 
to  designate  the  whole  of  Spain, 
as  Javan  denoted  all  the  Greeks. 

(c.)  Kittim.  The  original  in- 
habitants of  Cyprus,  where  was 
the  town  Cituim,  in  old  times 
inhabited  by  the  Greeks.  Alex- 
ander is  called  the  king  of  Chit- 
tim,  1  Mac.  1:1;  8:5.  Knobel 
and  Delitzsch  regard  these  as  em- 
bracing also  the  Carians.  Cy- 
prus was  an  important  station 
for  the  Phenicians  in  their  wes- 
tern expeditions.  It  furnished 
ship-timber,  copper,  gold,  silver, 
and  precious  stones,  oil,  wine, 
and  honey.  The  inhabitants 
are  called  Citio?i  by  the  Romans, 
and  Kitta?i  by  the  Greeks.  In 
later  times  the  term  Chittim  or 
Kittim  was  used  to  comprise 
many  Mediterranean  islands  and 
coasts,  as  Italy,  Sicily,  Rhodes, 
etc.  Here  it  would  seem  to  de- 
note the  island  of  Cyprus. 

(d.).  Dodanim.  The  Darda- 
nians.  The  Sam.  Sept.,  and  Jer 
ome  read  Rodo/nim,  (Rhodes  ?) 
The  Dardani  were  found  in  his- 
toric times  in  Illyricum  and 
Troy,  the  former  being  consid 
ered  as  their  original  seat.  They 
were  probably  a  semi-Pelasgic 
race.  They  are  held  by  Kaliseh 
to  denote  the  Dauaians,  occupy- 
ing the  whole  south-east  por- 
tion of  Italy,  including  Calabria  • 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2097 


lands;  everyone  after  his  tongue,  after  their  families,  in  their 
nations. 

6  ^[  d  And  the  sons  of  Ham ;    Cush,  and  Mizraim,  and  Phut, 
and  Canaan. 


d  1  Chron.  1  :  8,  etc. 


and  here  the  term  may  denote 
the  whole  of  Italy,  peopled  by 
Greek  settlers. 
5.  Thus  we  see  the  ancient  seats 
of  Japheth  lay  around  the  Caspian, 
Euxine,  iEgean,  and  Northern  Medi- 
terranean, spreading  over  Europe, 
and  Northern,  Western,  and  South- 
ern Asia,  and  into  America  by  Beh- 
ring's  Straits.  It  is  here  stated  that 
by  these,  (lit.,  from  these)  sons  of 
Japheth — so  enlarged  and  spreading 
— the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  were  divided 
—  they  divided  to  themselves  that 
portion  of  the  earth  known  to  the 
Hebrews  as  "  the  isles/'  or  "  the  isles 
of  the  nations."  If  In  their  lands,  a 
man  according  to  Ms  language  ;  that 
is — the  several  peoples  being  diverse 
in  habitation  and  language.  The 
differences  of  language  now  origi- 
nated would  band  them  together  sev- 
erally, and  determine  their  locality. 
■[f  After  their  families-— in  their  na- 
tions— according  to  their  colonies,  as 
belonging  to  their  several  nations. 
Note. — The  characteristics  of  a  na- 
tion. 1.  Common  descent ;  2.  A  com- 
mon country;  3.  A  common  language ; 
4.  Different  families,  or  colonies. 

V.  Tubal.  —  The  Iberians  are 
thought  to  be  meant — Tibareni 
— lberi.  Josephus  says, "  Thobel 
begat  the  Thobetites,  who  are 
now  called  Iberes." — Ant.,  B.  1, 
6,  1.  Tubal  and  Meschech  are 
named  together  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament as  warlike  nations,  and  a 
terror  to  the  world,  or  as  subjects 
of  Gog,  and  as  supplying  the 
Tvrians  with  copper  and  slaves, 
(Ezek.  38  :  3.)  The  district  is  the 
southeast  shore  of  the  Black  Sea. 

VI.  MEScnEcn. — These  are  proba- 
bly the  Muscovites  (Moschi)  ac- 
cording to  Knobel,  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  Iberians  and  Ligu- 


rians.  As  Meschech  and  Tubal 
are  here  associated,  so  are  they 
elsewhere,  (Ezek.  27  :  13  ;  32 :  26  ; 
38  :  2,  3 ;  39  :  1.)  So  in  Her- 
odotus, 3  :  94 ;  7  :  78.  So  also 
in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions.  In 
the  Egyptian  monuments,  like- 
wise, Meschech  and  Tiras  ap- 
pear together  as  here.  They 
were  located  along  the  south 
eastern  shores  of  the  Black  Sea. 
VII.  Tiras.— These  are  the  Thra- 
clans — the  dwellers  on  the  river 
Tiras,  or  Dniester.  The  name 
is  found  only  in  this  passage. 
Some  identify  it  with  the  great 
Asiatic  mountain  chain  of  Tau- 
rus, and  comprising  all  those 
tribes  whose  territory  is  trav- 
ersed by  the  Taurus  proper. 

It  is  clear  that  thus  only  the 
diffusion  of  the  Japhetites  is  com- 
pleted. They  extended,  there- 
tore,  from  Bactria  and  the  Imaus, 
almost  in  a  straight  line  west- 
ward to  the  Taurus  and  Asia 
Minor,  and  thence  again  west- 
ward to  the  shores  and  isles  of 
the  Mediterranean  Sea,  includ- 
ing Greece,  Italy,  and  Spain, 
whilst  they  occupied  in  the 
North  the  vast  but  indefinite 
tracts  of  Scythia,  from  the  Black 
and  Caspian  Seas  up  to  the  fab- 
ulous regions  of  the  Rhipsean 
mountains,  and  of  the  Hyperbo- 
reans. See  Kalisch. 
B.  Of  Ham.  Four  sons  and  theii 
descendants,  including  the  nations  of 
the  south — thirty  primitive  nations. 

6-20.  And  the  sons  of  Ham.  The 
name  appears  perhaps  in  Chemi  of 
the  Coptic — xvuLa  of  Plutarch,  and 
Clime  of  the  Rosetta  stone,  an  old 
name  of  Egypt,  which  is  also  in 
Scripture  called  "  the  land  of  Ham," 
Ps.  78  :  51 ;  105  :  23,  27. 


B.  C.  2097.] 


CHAPTER  X. 


203 


7  And  the  sons  of  Cnsh ;  Seba,  and  Havilah,  and  Sablah,  and  Raa- 
mab,  and  Sabtecha;  and  the  sons  of  Raamah  ;  Sheba,  and  Dedan. 


I.  Cush. — This  name  refers  not  only 
to  Ethiopians,  but  also  to  South- 
ern Asiatics.  One  of  the  most 
recent  and  unexpected  results 
of  modern  linguistic  inquiry  is 
the  proof  which  it  has  furnished 
of  an  ethnic  connexion  between 
the  Ethiopians,  or  Cushites,  who 
adjoined  on  Egypt  and  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  Baby- 
lonia." Sir  H.  Rawlinson  found 
from  most  ancient  Babylonian 
documents  a  connexion  in  the 
languages  of  these  two  districts, 
and  that  the  traditions,  both  of 
Babylonia  and  Assyria,  pointed 
to  a  connexion  in  very  early 
times  between  Ethiopia,  South- 
ern Arabia,  and  the  cities  on  the 
lower  Euphrates.  He  thus  has 
established  the  fact  of  an  Asiatic 
Ethiopia,  so  long  doubted,  but 
now  acknowledged.  Lepsius  has 
found  the  same  name  "  Cush " 
at  Sahara  (Egypt)  on  monu- 
ments of  the  sixth  dynasty. 
(Lond.  Eth.  Jour.  VII.  310.)  So 
we  have  the  brief  statement,  vs. 
8,  10,  Cush  begat  Nimrod,  "  the 
beginning  of  whose  kingdom  was 
Babel,  etc."  Cush  had  five  sons 
and  two  grandsons,  who  are 
here  reckoned  as  founders  of 
nations.  Traces  of  the  name 
Cush  are  fouDd  perhaps  in  Cau- 
casus and  Cossaei  of  Khusistan. 
See  also  Amos  9 : 7,  where  his 
migration  to  the  country  south 
of  Egypt  is  referred  to. 

1.  Seba.  Meroe — Ethiopians 
living  from  Elephantine  to  Me- 
roe. This  name  is  prominent 
in  the  Old  Testament  as  desig- 
nating a  people  of  great  wealth 
and  power.  Josephus  and  Stra- 
bo  speak  of  it  as  the  royal  city 
of  Ethiopia.  It  is  a  tract  of 
land  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
live  miles  in  circumference,  a 
peninsula  extending  to  the  junc- 
tion of  the  river  Astaboras  with 


the  Nile.  It  had  mines  of  gold 
and  iron  and  copper,  forests  of 
precious  woods,  with  fine  pas- 
tures and  cattle,  and  all  the  ma- 
terial  of  prosperity.  Large  cit- 
ies were  in  this  district,  and 
traversed  by  the  caravans  from 
Libya  and  the  Red  Sea,  from 
Egypt  and  Ethiopia.  The  proph- 
ets represent  the  accession  of 
Seba  to  the  church  of  God  as 
one  of  the  glories  of  the  latter 
day  triumphs,  Ps.  72  :  10.  See 
Isa.  43 :  3.  Gandace  seems  to 
have  been  the  queen  of  this  re- 
gion.    See  Notes  on  Acts  8  :  27. 

2.  Havilah.  Ethiopians  who 
dwelt  partly  in  Arabia  and  part- 
ly in  Africa,  and  mingled  with 
immigrating  Joktans,  vs.  29. 
(See  notes  on  ch.  2:  11 — "Ha- 
vilah.'") They  are  called  Ava- 
litce,  or  Ghaulotm.  Some  under- 
stand this  as  the  general  term 
for  the  eastern  countries. 

3.  Sabtah.  Sabatha,  or  Sabo- 
ta  in  Arabia  Felix.  Josephus 
explains  this  of  the  tribes  along 
the  river  Astaboras  in  the  region 
of  Meroe. 

4.  Raamah.  The  inhabitants 
of  Regma,  in  south  eastern  Ara 
bia,  or  the  Persian  Gulf. 

(a.)  Sheba.  Tlese  are  the  Sa 
beans,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Per 
sian  Gulf,  from  which  the  Sa- 
bean  and  Dedanish  Cushites 
spread  to  the  northwest,  and 
mixed  with  the  Joktans.  So  it 
occurred  that,  as  with  Canaan, 
there  came  to  be  a  preponder- 
ance of  the  Semitish  element 
from  a  Cushite  stock.  Saba  is 
the  chief  city  of  Yemen  or  Ara- 
bia Felix.  "  Yemen  "  means  the 
right  hand  land  —  that  is,  the 
south.  Kalisch  gives  the  terri- 
tory as  bounded  on  the  west  by 
the  Arabic  Gulf,  on  the  south  by 
the  Indian  Ocean,  on  the  north 
by    the    territory  of   the    Idu 


204 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2097 


8  And  Uush  begat  Nimrod :  he  began  to  be  a  mighty  one  in 
the  earth. 

'i  He  was  a  mighty  e  hunter  f  before  the  Lord  :  wherefore  it  is 
said,  Even  as  Nimrod  the  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord. 

10  g  And  the  beginning  of  his  kingdom  was  Babel,  and  Erech, 
and  Accad,  and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar. 


e  Jer.  16  :  16  ;  Mie.  T  :  2.     fch.  6:11.     g  Mic.  5  :  6. 


means,  and  on  the  east  by  the 
Persian  Gulf,  but  varying  by 
the  incursions  of  hostile  tribes. 
The  Sabeans  are  spoken  of,  Job 
1:15;  Isa.45:14;  Ezek.  23  :  42  ; 
Joel  3 :  8.  They  were  for  a  long 
time  almost  the  sole  agents  of 
an  extensive  and  lucrative  trade 
between  India  and  Egypt,  and 
between  Egypt  and  Phenicia,  or 
Syria,  and  afterwards  carried  on 
a  rich  trade  with  India  on  their 
own  account.  They  are  spoken 
of  as  men  of  stature,  and  of  com- 
mercial note,  Isa.  45  :  14. 

(b.)  Dedan.  Neighboring  peo- 
ple on  the  Persian  gulf,  where 
is  the  island  Baden — a  trading 
post  between  India  and  Central 
Asia ;  also  on  the  northwest 
coast  of  the  Arabian  Gulf.  It 
is  reckoned  both  among  the 
Cushites  and  the  Shemites. 

5.  Sabiecha.  Samudake.  A 
river  and  city  of  Caramania. 
Some  identify  it  with  the  Ethi- 
opian name  Subatoh. 

8.  And  Gush  begat  Nimrod.  The 
historian  here  turns  aside  from  list 
of  nations  to  notice  the  origin  of  the 
first  great  empires  that  were  estab- 
lished on  the  earth.  Of  the  sons  of 
Cush,  one  is  here  noted  as  the  first 
potentate  in  history.  His  qualities 
and  characteristics  are  here  given. 
*[]'  He  began  to  be  a  mighty  one  in  the 
earth  {a  hero  in  the  land.)  He  came 
into  notice  as  a  mighty  man — a  con- 
queror, and  a  builder  of  cities. 

9.  When  it  is  added,  He  was  a 
mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord  (Jeho- 
vah) it  seems  to  be  implied  that  he 
carried  on  his  bold  and  powerful 
schemes  with  a  high  hand,  and  with 
a  deli  an",  air.     He  was  a  heathen, 


but  not  ignorant  of  God,  as  we  sup- 
pose, but  boasting  of  worldly  power 
and  prowess,  and  pushing  forward 
his  incursions  so  as  to  become  the 
most  noted  representative  of  the 
world-power,  in  contrast  with  the 
kingdom  of  God.  He  rises  before 
us  in  the  history  as  of  the  same 
worldly  line  with  Cain,  trusting  to 
bow  and  spear  for  lordly  dominion 
among  men.  The  eminence  he  at- 
tained in  warfare  is  coupled  with 
that  of  the  chase.  The  sculptures 
lately  found  in  the  Assyrian  palaces 
show  the  king  as  levelling  his  spear 
against  the  bull,  or  his  arrow  at  the 
lion.  Physical  strength  displayed  in 
warlike  prowess  or  in  the  chase  were 
lauded,  as  of  kindred  merit*.  The 
name  Nimrod  means  let  us  rebel,  and 
thus  may  indicate  his  high-handed 
exploits.  His  name  passed  into  a 
proverb  of  physical  and  heroic 
achievement,  "  Wherefore  it  is  said, 
Even  as  Nimrod,  the  mighty  hunter 
befo7'e  the  Lord." 

10.  And  the  beginning  of  his  king- 
dom was  Babel.  Babylon,  whose  ori- 
gin is  described  in  the  next  chapter, 
from  the  tower  of  Babel,  is  connect- 
ed with  most  important  events  in  the 
history  of  the  race.  The  site  of  Babel 
has  been  discovered  by  late  explorers 
in  the  ruins  at,  or  near,  Birs  Nim- 
rud,  chiefly  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
the  Euphrates,  where  there  is  a  huge 
square  mound,  called  by  the  natives 
Babil.  This  was  the  first  of  the  four 
cities  here  named  as  "  the  beginning 
of  his  kingdom  in  the  land  of  Shinar." 
We  were  pointed,  near  Damascus, 
to  the  tomb  of  Nimrod,  on  one  of 
the  hills,  f  Erech.  This  site  has 
been  identified  about  one  hundred 
miles  southeast  of  Babel,  and  abou 


B.  C.  2097.] 


CHAPTER  X. 


205 


11  Out  of  that  lard  went  forth  Asslmr,  and  builded  Nineveh, 
and  the  city  Rehoboth,  and  Calah, 

12  And  Resen  between  Xineveh  and  Calah:    the  same  is  a 
great  city. 


half  way  between  it  and  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  on 
the  eastern  bank  of  the  former  river, 
and  now  called  Irak.  It  is  the  Or- 
choe  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  ruins 
now  bear  the  name  of  Urka,  or  War- 
ka;  and  on  the  cuneiform  inscrip- 
tions Huruk,  a  holy  city  consecra- 
ted to  the  moon.  *[  Accad.  This 
site  is  also  traced  by  recent  discov- 
eries of  the  Xineveh  explorers,  about 
sixty-five  miles  northeast  of  Babel. 
The  name  is  found  by  Raiclinson 
often  occurring  in  the  inscriptions, 
and  it  is  thought  to  be  the  same  as 
the  present  Akkerhoof  northeast  of 
Babel,  and  about  nine  miles  west  of 
the  Tigris.  The  mound  of  ruins  is 
called  "Tel  fflrm-ud."  f  Galneh, 
Isa.  10:9,  Kalno  —  probably  Ctesi- 
pnon  on  the  Tigris,  about  eighteen 
miles  below  Baghdad.  The  prophet 
Amos  mentions  it  as  a  powerful  hold, 
(ch.  6 :  2.)  It  is  the  district  of  Glial 
onitis.  These  towns  are  in  the  land 
of  Shinar,  the  south  of  Mesopotamia, 
called  Babylonia  and  Chaldea. 

11.  Out  of  the  land  went  forth  As- 
shur ;  rather — came  he  forth  to  As- 
shur.  Nirnrod  is  doubtless  here  spo- 
ken of,  and  not  Asshur,  and  out  of 
that  land  of  Shinar  his  conquests  ex- 
tended. Asshur  has  been  named 
hitherto  only  as  a  country,  and  in- 
cluding the  part  of  Mesopotamia 
north  of  Shinar,  ch.  2  :  14.  Nimrod 
proceeded  from  Babel,  and  the  other 
towns  named,  to  build  Nineveh. 
This  became  a  great  city,  opposite 
Mosul  on  the  Tigris.  Its  immense 
ruins  have  lately  been  exhumed  by 
Layard,  Botta,  and  others,  and  its 
inscriptions  on  burnt  brick,  so  im- 
perishable, throw  much  light  on  the 
Scripture  history.  Its  ruins  are 
known  by  the  sites  of  Nebi  Yunas 
and  Koyunjik.  Its  greatest  palaces 
were  erected  as  lately  as  b.  c.  700  to 
900.  when  it  was  the  seat  of  the  As- 


syrian monarchs,  and  commanded 
the  vast  and  rich  commerce  of  the 
East.  The  prophet  Jonah,  who  was 
sent  to  preach  to  this  Gentile  people 
as  a  missionary,  and  who  so  revolted 
at  the  unwelcome  task  of  recogni- 
1  zing  the  heathen  as  subjects  of  salva- 
tion, speaks  of  it  as  an  exceeding 
great  city  of  six  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants — that  is  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  children  not  yet 
able  to  tell  their  right  hand  from 
their  left — and  as  a  city  of  three  days' 
journey.  About  625  B.  c.  it  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  king  of  Media  and 
the  king  of  Babylon,  so  that  it  has 
not  been  traced  since,  until  the 
I  recent  explorations.  *7  Rehoboth. 
\  The  broadway,  or  market  —  is  not 
I  clearly  identified — as  it  was  a  name 
i  quite  commonly  given  to  towns. 
Buins  still  bearing  this  name  are 
found  about  four  miles  southwest  of 
the  town  Mayadin.  *\  Calah.  This 
is  identified  as  the  site  called  Calah 
Serghat,  about  fifty-five  miles  south 
of  Mosul.  It  is  mentioned  on  the 
obelisks  as  the  royal  residence,  and 
contained  one  of  the  grandest  pala- 
ces.    Some  make  it  Nimrud,. 

12.  And  Resen.  This  city,  whose 
site  is  given  as  between  Nineveh 
and  Calah,  is  also  called  a  great  city  ; 
lit.,  that  is  the  great  city.  Some 
make  this  refer  to  Nineveh.  So  Keil, 
etc.  Others  make  it  point  to  Besen, 
and  trace  it  to  the  site  called  Nim~ 
rud,  about  twenty  miles  south  of 
Nineveh.  This  is  the  enlargement 
of  Nimrod's  kingdom,  begun  at  Ba- 
bel. This  is  the  origin,  in  brief,  of 
the  great  Babylonian  and  Assyrian 
monarchies.  They  were  so  near  as 
to  be  rent  by  mutual  jealousies  and 
strifes,  which  resulted  in  the  ruin  of 
Nineveh.  The  founder  of  this  first 
world-monarchy  was  a  Cushite  de- 
scendant of  Ham.  At  the  same  time 
another    Harnite    power    arose    in 


206 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2097. 


13  And  Mizraim  begat  Ludim,  and  Anamim,  and  Lehabim, 
and  Naphtuhim, 

14  And  Pathrusim,  and  Casluhim,  (h  out  of  whom  came  Phil- 
istira,)  and  Caphtorim. 


h  1  Ohron.  1  :  12. 


Egypt,  while  still  another  branch 
spread  eastward  in  India,  and  a 
fourth  through  Southern  Arabia, 
crossing  into  Africa,  sometimes  in 
conflict  with  the  Egyptian  mon- 
archy, and  sometimes  in  alliance. 
The  Eastern  empire  of  this  Ham- 
itic  line  is  specially  noticed  because 
of  its  relations  to  the  nations  de- 
scended from  Shem.  Rawlinson, 
however,  regards  it  as  well  estab- 
lished by  the  Assyrian  and  Baby- 
lonian inscriptions,  that  Calah  is  to 
be  found  at  Nimrud,  and  Resen  at 
Calah  Sherghat.  Cush  was  then 
strictly  the  southern  zone.  It  com- 
prised the  known  countries  of  the 
South  both  in  Africa  and  Arabia. 
In  the  former  part  it  is  bounded  by 
Meroe,  in  the  latter  by  Sabaea.  And 
whenever  the  nations  inhabiting 
these  districts  extended  beyond  the 
southern  region,  either  to  settle  in 
more  eastern  or  in  more  northern 
parts,  they  separated  from  the  stem 
of  Cush,  and  associated  with  differ- 
ent branches  of  Shem  ;  as  in  case  of 
Havilah,  Sheba,  and  Dedan.  Cush 
also  migrated  (vs.  8-12)  to  the  dis- 
tricts round  the  Euphrates  and  Ti- 
gris, where  was  the  cradle  of  the 
race,  and  the  earliest  civilization  and 
wealth.  Invaders  from  the  south 
were  tempted  by  these  rich  settle- 
ments. And  the  leader  of  such  in- 
vading hordes  was  Nimrod,  a  Cush- 
ite,  who  advanced  to  this  district  of 
the  old  Paradise,  and  founded  Baby- 
lon. Thence  advancing,  he  reached 
the  country  called  Asshur,  from  the- 
son  of  Shem,  where  he  founded,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Tigris,  the  city 
of  Nineveh,  whose  stately  ruins  have 
been  brought  to  light  in  our  day. 

13,  14.  And  Mizraim.  He  had 
seven  sons,  from  whom  sprang  eight 
nations. 


II.  Mizraim. — This  is  the  name  for 
Egypt,  or  the  Egyptians.  (Old 
Persian.  Mudaraya.  Med.,  Mut- 
sariya)  It  is  called  the  land  of 
Ham,  poetically,  Ps.  78  :  51 ; 
105:23.  The  form  is  dual  — a 
doubling  of  the  singular  Mizr 
(Matzor,  Is.  19  :  G.)  Some  under- 
stand it  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Egypt.  The  title,  "  Lord  of  Up- 
per and  Lower  Egypt,"  is  fre- 
quently found  on  the  monu- 
ments. (Osburn,  Egypt,  p.  5, 
11,  etc.)  The  plural  forms  oc- 
curring here,  mark  the  people 
who  are  descendants  of  Mitzraim. 

1.  Ludim.  These  are  to  be 
distinguished  from  the  Semitish 
Lud  (vs.  22.)  Some,  as  Ewald, 
take  these  to  be  Libyans,  (but 
see  3.)  Some  place  them  south 
of  Ethiopia,  some  in  northeast- 
ern Egypt.  See  Isa.  66  ;  19  ;  Jer. 
46  :  9  ;  Ezek.  27  :  10  ;  30 :  5. 

2.  Anamim.  Knobel  takes 
these  to  be  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Delta  of  the  Nile,  (Sept. 
Enemetirim)  the  Egyptian  "  Sa- 
nemhit" — region  of  the  north. 
Some  as  Targ. — the  inhabitants 
of  Mareotis,  or  "the  Alexan- 
drines," (Saad.) 

3.  Lehabim,  or  Lubim,  denotes 
the  southern  Libyans — the  Nu- 
bians. Knobel  makes  it  to  be 
the  Egyptian  part  of  the  Hamite 
Put  (Libya,)  that  is,  in  Egyptian 
Libya,  west  of  the  Delta.  See  2 
Chron.  12  : 3 ;  16  : 8  ;  Nahum  3  : 9. 

4.  Naphtuhim.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  middle  Egypt,  or  people 
of  Phthah,  na-phthah,  the  Mem- 
phites.  The  ancient  name  of 
Memphis  was  ma-m-phthah — the 
place  of  Phthah,  (CJiampollion 
Egypt,  p.  155.) 

5.  Patlrusim.    Inhabitants  of 


B.  C.  2097.]  CHAPTER  X. 

15  °[  And  Canaan  begat  Sidon  his  first-born,  and  Heth, 


20? 


Upper  Egypt  to  tlie  south. 
Egyptian  " Petras"  or  the  south 
— Pathros.  Hence  the  Pathur- 
itic  name.  (Pliny's  Nat.  Hist., 
v.  9,  47.)  See  Isa.  11 :  11,  where 
it  is  located  between  Egypt  and 
Cush. 

6.  Gasluhim.  The  Colchians, 
who  had  evidently  an  Egyptian 
origin,  as  Herodotus  and  others 
show  ;  and  who  afterwards  were 
expelled  from  the  south  and  fled 
to  Colchis,  near  the  Black  Sea. 

(a.)  Philistim.  These  their 
descendants  settled  on  the  Pal- 
estine coast,  from  the  border  of 
Egypt  to  Joppa.  Gaza,  Ashdod, 
Ashkelon,  Gath  and  Ekron  are 
their  cities. 

7.  Gaphtorim.  This  people 
dwelling  between  Egypt  and 
Greece,  as  some  think,  in  the 
island  of  Crete,  may  have  been 
descendants  of  the  Gasluhim, 
though  the  Heb.  does  not  so  read. 
From  Jer.  47  :  4,  it  appears  that 
Kaphtor  was  a  coastland,  and 
from  Amos  9  :  7,  we  learn  that 
the  Philistines  came  from  this 
land.  Hence  some  locate  them 
on  the  coast  of  the  Red  Sea. 
Kalisch  identifies  them  with  the 
people  of  Coptos,  in  Upper 
Egypt,  a  few  miles  north  of 
Thebes,  extensive  caravan  tra- 
ders between  Libya  and  Egypt, 
and  Arabia  and  India. 

III.  Phut.— This  is  the  third  Ham- 
ite  people  of  Africa — (Egypt, 
phet,) —  (Copt.,  phit.)  This  is 
identified  with  the  name  But, 
or  Butos,  the  capital  town  of  the 
Delta  of  the  Nile,  on  the  south 
shore  of  the  Butic  lake. 

15-19.  And  Canaan.  From  Ca- 
naan we  find  eleven  nations  to  have 
sprung. 

IV.  Canaan — The  name  of  the  coun- 
try and  people  west  of  the  Jor- 
dan, from  the  Sea  of  Gennesaret 
to  the  foot  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
See  N  arnb.  13  :  29.     (Old  Egypt- 


ian,   Canana)      "  The    Hamite 
descent  of  the  Canaanites  can- 
not be  doubted  notwithstanding 
their  Semitish   tongue."  —  Bel. 
Even  as  Abraham  adopted  the 
language  of  the  later  Canaan- 
ites,  if,   indeed,   they   had   not 
brought    it    with  them.      The 
Hamitic  descent  of  the  early  in- 
habitants of  Canaan,  which  had 
often  been   called  in   question, 
has  recently  come  to  be  looked 
upon   as   almost   certain,  apart 
from  the  evidence  of  Scripture." 
— Rawlinson.     All  the  Canaan- 
ites   were    Scyths,   and  had    a 
common  origin  with  the  Egypt- 
ians, Ethiopians,  and  Libyans, 
which  was  Scythic,  or  Hamite. 
The  Hittites  were  the  dominant 
Scythic  race  from  the  earliest 
times,  and  they  gave  way,  very 
slowly,   before    the    Arameans, 
Jews,  and  Phenicians,  who  were 
the  only  extensive  Semitic  im- 
migrants."— Sir.  H.  Rawlinson. 
"Even    in    that    India,    where 
physical  life  attains  the  utmost 
limits  known  to  our  earth,  the 
indigenous  man  is  a  black.     The 
white  race,  history  compels  us 
to    believe    it,    has    descended 
thither    from     the     temperate 
regions  of  western  Asia." — Guy- 
ofs  Earth  and  Man,  page  214. 
It  is  impossible,  says  Kalisch,  to 
conceive  a  greater  national  difference 
than  that  which  existed  both  in  the 
feeling  and  the  life  of  the  two  na- 
tions, the  Hebrews  and  the  Canaan- 
ites, as  the  war  of  destruction  carried 
on  between  them  shows.    Especially 
was  the  one  a  religious  people,  believ- 
ers in  the  true  God — the  other,  hea- 
then and  idolatrous — the  former  the 
covenant  people  of  God,  the  latter 
the  accursed  people — servants  of  ser- 
vants to  their  brethren.    e\  Sidon,  his 
first  born.    The  name  is  still  retained 
as  that  of  the  city  on  the  Phenician 
coast,   renowned  along  with   Tyre. 
The  name,  however,  was  used  so  as 


208 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  209? 


16  And  the  Jebusite,  and  the  Amorite,  and  the  Girgasite. 

17  And  the  Hivite,  and  the  Arkite,  and  the  Smite, 

18  And  the  Arvadite,  and  the  Zemarite,  and  the  Hamathite  ; 
and  afterwards  were  the  families  of  the  Cauaanites  spread  abroad. 


to  include  all  the  Phenicians  as  Si- 
donians.  The  present  town  is  Saida, 
of  about  eight  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, and  west  of  the  ancient  site. 
The  Sidonians  were  the  navigators 
who  were  first  to  steer  by  observa- 
tion of  the  stars.  Sidon  was  called 
"  the  great  city,"  and  sent  out  num- 
erous colonies  to  Sardinia,  Spain, 
Britain,  Africa,  and  had  very  exten- 
sive comnierce,  though  Tyre  sur- 
passed in  power,  and  in  the  seventh 
centurv  before  Christ  held  the  con- 
trol. 1  Heth.  This  tribe  dwelt  in 
the  hill-country  of  Palestine,  around 
Hebron — the  Hittites — from  whom 
Esau  took  wives,  (ch.  26:34,  35.) 
They  seem  to  have  extended  north 
also,  toward  the  Euphrates,  (ch. 
23  :  3  ;  Numb.  13  :  29  ;  Josh.  1  : 4.) 
"  The  land  of  the  Hittites  "  came  to 
be  used  for  Canaan,  indicating  their 
extensive  spread.  They  occupied 
the  land  in  the  time  of  Abraham. 

16.  The  Jebusite.  From  Jehus,  the 
ancient  name  of  Jerusalem,  where 
this  tribe  was  located.  They  spread 
also  into  the  hill  country,  which  they 
occupied  along  with  the  Amorites 
and  Hittites.  Their  capital,  Jebus, 
was  unsuccessfully  attacked  by  Ju- 
dah  and  Benjamin,  and  the  citadel 
was  wrested  from  them  only  in  Da- 
vid's time.  ^[  The  Amorite.  These 
seem  to  have  been  the  most  power- 
ful of  the  tribes  of  Canaan,  as  well 
as  the  most  numerous.  They  are 
frequently  named  for  the  whole  peo- 
ple of  the  land.  They  lived  on  both 
sides  of  the  Jordan,  and  founded 
powerful  kingdoms,  five  on  the  west- 
ern side  and  two  on  the  eastern.  The 
latter  were  subdued  by  Moses — the 
former  by  Joshua.  But  they  were 
not  exterminated.  A  remnant  were 
made  bondmen  by  Solomon,  (1  Kings 
9  :  20,)  and  "hey  survived  the  captiv- 
ity, (Ezra  9:1.)  "j[  The  Girgashite. 
These  were  on  the  west  of  the  Jordan. 


Some  have  supposed  the  name  "  Ger- 
gesenes "  to  be  a  trace  of  them^ 
southeast  of  the  lake  Gennesaret, 
Gen.  15  :  21 ;  Deut,  7:1;  Josh.  24 :  11. 

17.  And  the  Hivite.  These  seem 
to  have  had  two  central  seats ;  one 
about  Shechem  and  Gibeon,  and  the 
other  north  at  the  foot  of  Lebanon 
and  Hermon.  Thev  are  associated 
with  the  Amorites/  (Gen.  48:22;  2 
Sam.  21  :  2.)  They  were  defeated  by 
Joshua,  excepting  four  cities  of  the 
Gibeonites,  (Josh.  9  :  17  ;  11:3,  19.) 
Yet  in  the  time  of  David  we  find 
them  still  inhabiting  their  own 
towns,  and  Solomon  imposed  on 
them  a  tribute.  *[  The  Arkite. 
These  are  supposed  to  have  dwelt 
at  the  foot  of  Lebanon,  northwest, 
where  is  the  town  of  Area,  and  ruins 
called  Tel  Arka,  between  Tripoli 
and  Autaradus,  near  the  sea.  Near 
this  locality  there  was  a  mountain 
fortress  called  Sinnas  and  Sini,  where 
dwelt  a  band  of  marauders  who  in- 
fested Lebanon.  This  is  probably 
the  seat  of  the  Sinitcs. 

18.  And  the  Arvadite.  These  are 
traced  by  a  town  called  Arvad,  on 
the  north  coast  of  Phenicia,  on  an 
island,  Aradus,  about  two  miles  from 
the  shore.  It  is  described  by  Strabo 
as  a  rock  rising  in  the  midst  of  the 
waves,  about  seven  stadia  in  circum- 
ference. Yet  it  became  a  most  flour- 
ishing and  wealthy  place,  second 
only  to  Tyre  and  Sidon.  The  vil- 
lage called  Buad  still  remains,  with 
about  three  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  massive  Phenician  walls.  *[  Ze- 
marites.  These  are  traced  by  a  town 
called  Zimgra,  by  Strabo,  and  now 
known  as  Simra,  at  the  west  foot  ef 
Lebanon.  ^  The  Hamathite.  These 
were  the  inhabitants  of  the  Syrian 
town  Hamath,  or  Hamath  Kabbah — 
the  great,  (Amos  6  : 2.)  It  lies  on  the 
Orontes.  The  land  of  Hamath  was  of 
great  extent,  including  the  town  of 


B.  C.  2445-2380.] 


CHAPTER  X. 


209 


19  *  And  the  border  of  the  Canaanites  was  from  Sidon,  as  thou 
comest  to  Gerar,  unto  Gaza;  as  thou  goest  unto  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah, and  Admah,  and  Zeboim,  even  unto  Lasha. 

20  These  are  the  sons  of  Ham,  after  their  families,  after  their 
tongues,  in  their  countries,  and  in  their  nations. 

21  Unto  Shem  also,  the  father  of  all  the  children  of  Eber,  the 
brother  of  Japheth  the  elder,  even  to  him  were  children  born. 

i  ch.  13  :  12,  14, 15,  IT ;  15  :  18-21 ;  Numb.  34  :  2-12  ;  Josh.  12  :  7,  8. 


Riblah,  and  reaching  to  Antioch,  (2 
Kings  25  :  21.)  "  The  entrance  of 
Hamatli,"  the  north  part  of  the  val- 
ley, between  Lebanon  and  Anti-Leba- 
non, formed  the  utmost  boundary  of 
Palestine  to  the  north,  (Numb.  13 :  21 ; 
Josh.  13  :  5  ;  1  Kings  8  :  65.)  It  is  stiU 
a  large  and  prosperous  town  of  Syria, 
having  a  large  population.  Its  king 
was  in  alliance  with  David,  (2  Sam. 
8  : 9, 10.)  ^[  And  afterwards.  These 
descendants  of  Canaan,  were  formed 
as  nations  after  the  confusion  of 
tongues.  Where  they  originally 
dwelt,  or  how  their  dispersion  occur- 
red, is  not  distinctly  mentioned ; 
only  that  they  came  to  settle  in  the 
land  of  Canaan,  whose  boundaries 
are  here  given.  They  would  seem 
to  have  driven  out  the  Shemites 
and  taken  violent  possession,  (Gen. 
40 :  15,)  and  they,  in  turn,  were  driven 
out  by  command  of  God,  and  scat- 
tered, as  colonies,  to  the  remote 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  Greece, 
Spain,  Africa  and  Britain. 

19.  The  border,  etc.  This  ran  from 
Sidon  towards  Gerar, — (Gen.  20  : 1,) 
Wady  el  Jerur, — unto  Gaza,  whence 
it  crosses  to  the  Dead  Sea,  the  site  of 
the  cities  of  the  plain,  terminating 
at  Lasha,  supposed  to  be  Callirhoe, 
northeast  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Some 
suppose  that  Laish  is  meant,  near 
the  sources  of  the  Jordan.  In  their 
after  spreading  abroad,  the  Hittite 
went  to  the  northeast,  the  Amorite 
went  across  the  Jordan  to  Peraea — 
while  others  of  them  went  further 
north. 

20.  This  verse  sums  up  the  list  of 
the  Hamites.  They  occupied  Afri- 
ca, and  the  east  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean  in  Asia,  besides  the 


southern  part  of  Asia,  in  the  regions 
of  the  Old  Paradise.  Japheth  occu- 
pied the  larger  territory — all  of 
Europe,  and  a  portion  of  Asia.  Shem, 
however,  holds  the  most  important 
place  in  the  sacred  history,  and  Ham 
has  the  most  prominent  relation  to 
Shem ;  as  "  Babylon,  Kush,  Egypt 
and  Canaan  are  the  powers  which 
come  into  contact  with  Shem  in  that 
central  line  of  human  history  which 
is  traced  in  the  Bible.  Hence  it  is 
that  in  the  table  of  nations  special 
attention  is  directed  to  Kush,  Nim- 
rod,  Mizraim,  and  to  the  tribes  and 
borders  of  Canaan." — Murphy. 

C.  Of  Shem.  Five  sons,  and 
their  descendants  —  twenty-six  no> 
tions. 

21.  Unto  Shem  also.  It  is  plain 
that  the  historian  has  placed  the 
name  of  Shem  the  last  in  the  series, 
in  order  thus  to  proceed  with  the 
patriarchal  line  for  unfolding  the 
covenant  history.  Hence  Shem  is 
designated  as  "  the  father  of  all  the 
children  of  Eber."  and  attention  is 
called  to  oUem  in  this  relation.  Shem 
is  also  called  significantly  "  the  elder 
brother  of  Japheth,"  while  nothing 
is  mentioned  of  his  being  brother  of 
Ham,  who  was  "  a  servant,"  by  the 
curse.  It  is  not  here  said  that  Japh- 
eth was  the  eldest,  (though  this 
would  seem  to  be  implied,)  but  that 
Shem  was  the  elder  one  of  the  two 
brothers  of  Japheth,  that  is,  elder 
than  Ham.  It  would  seem  that 
Ham  was  the  youngest,  (Gen.  9  :  24,) 
and  that  Shem  was  born  when  Noah 
was  in  his  five  hundred  and  third 
year,  (Gen.  11 :  10,)  and  that  Japhet 
was  born  when  Noah  was  in  his  five 
hundredth  year,  (Gen.  5  :  32.)    See 


210 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2445-2380 


22  The  k  children  of  Shem  ;  Elam,  and  Asshur,  and  Arphaxad, 
and  Lnd,  and  Aram. 

23  And  the  children  of  Aram ;  Uz,  and  Hul,  and  Gether,  and 
Mash. 

24  And  Arphaxad  begat l  Salah;  and  Salah  begat  Eber. 


k  1  Chron.  1  :  17.    1  ch.  11  :  12. 


cli.  5  :  32,  notes.    Others  think  that 
Sheni  was  the  eldest. 

22.  Elam.  Five  of  the  nations 
issuing  from  Shem  are  here  given  as 
immediate  descendants.  Elymais 
retains  the  name,  and  is  a  large  dis- 
trict, whose  capital  was  Shushan,  or 
Susa,  (Dan.  8 :  2,)  in  the  vicinity  of 
Assyria,  and  Media,  and  Babylonia, 
comprising  the  more  modern  Persia, 
and  now  included  in  Khusistan.  In 
the  time  of  the  Persian  Empire  the 
whole  country  was  called  Elam.  It 
was  a  very  powerful  nation,  (See 
Isa.  22  :  6  ;  Jer.  49  :  34  ;  Ezek.  32  :  24,) 
■[[  Asshur.  This  is  here  included 
among  the  Shemites  though  its  chief 
towns  were  peopled  by  Hamites,  (see 
vs.  11,  notes.)  Tf  And  Arphaxad. 
This  name  points  to  the  northern 
district  of  Assyria,  called  Arrliapa- 
chitiSy  adjoining  Media.  From  vs. 
24  we  learn  that  from  this  stem 
came  forth  "  the  children  of  Eber." 
And  here  is  the  only  instance  given 
of  a  genealogical  descent  to  the 
fourth  generation.  "  The  nations  de- 
scended from  Arphaxad  are  noted  at 
the  close  (vs.  24,)  on  account  of  their 
late  origin,  as  well  as  their  import 
for  the  subsequent  narrative." 
*\\  Lud.  This  name  points  to  the 
Lydians,  who  migrated  to  Asia  Mi- 
nor, and  gave  the  name  to  a  part  of 
the  west  coast.  This  is  a  region 
more  removed  than  the  previous 
geographical  connexions  would  lead 
us  to  expect.  But  the  history  of 
Asia  Minor  is  such  as  to  relieve  this 
difficulty.  The  people  who  origin- 
ally occupied  this  region  were  called 
the  Masonians.  But  they  were  in- 
vaded by  the  Lydians  from  the  east 
and  subdued.  The  ancient  Lydians 
were  exceedingly  brave  and  warlike, 
renowned  for  their  cavalry.  *}[  Aram. 


This  name  points  to  Aramea,  and 
designates  the  parts  of  Syria  north 
of  Palestine,  as  well  as  the  upper 
parts  of  Mesopotamia.  It  was  un- 
derstood to  comprise  the  territories 
between  the  Tigris  and  the  Syrian 
coast  of  the  Mediterranean.  We 
read  of  "  Aram  of  the  two  rivers," 
(Naharaim,)  and  the  Aram  of  Damas- 
cus, (Dammesek,)  etc.  The  Aramaic 
dialects  (Syriac  and  Chaldee,)  are  of 
the  Semitic  stock,  slightly  varying 
from  the  Hebrew,  which  itself,  in 
later  time,  became  strongly  impreg- 
nated with  the  Aramaic.  The  Ara- 
means  extended  from  the  Taurus 
range  on  the  north,  to  the  Arabian 
tribes  on  the  south.  The  descend- 
ants of  Aram  are  now  given.  ^|  Uz. 
This  was  the  land  of  Job,  the  patri- 
arch. It  was  located  in  Arabia  Des- 
erta,  and  between  the  territories  of 
the  Idumeans  and  the  Euphrates. 
Their  government  was  monarchical. 
See  Jer.  25  :  20.  The  habits  of  the 
people  are  referred  to  in  the  early 
chapters  of  the  Book  of  Job.  ^[  Hul. 
This  is  uncertain,  though  Huleh,  near 
the  sources  of  the  Jordan  is  supposed 
by  some  to  be  a  trace  of  the  name. 
In  this  vicinity  is  a  fertile  district 
called  Dshaulan.  ^[  Gether.  This 
is  taken,  by  some,  to  be  the  kingdom 
of  Geshur,  whither  Absalom  fled, 
belonging  as  it  did  to  Aramea,  and 
located  on  the  right  of  the  Orontes. 
*[  Mash.  This  name  is  identified 
with  the  Mysians,  who  probably  mi 
grated  to  Asia  Minor  from  the  north- 
ern border  of  Mesopotamia,  where 
is  a  chain  of  mountains  called  Ma- 
sius,  extending  from  the  Tigris  tc 
the  Euphrates. 

24.  Here  follow  the  descendants 
of  Arphaxad.  *\\  Salah.  The  Salah. 
ites  spread  along  the  east  side  of  the 


B.  C.  2346-2107.] 


CHAPTER  X. 


211 


25  In  And  unto  Eber  were  born  two  sons  :  the  name  of  one 
was  Peleg,  for  in  his  days  was  the  earth  divided ;  and  his  broth- 
er's name  was  Joktan. 

26  And  Joktan  begat  Almodad,  and  Sheleph,  and  Hazarmav- 
eth,  and  Jerah, 

ia  1  Chron.  1  :  19. 


Tigris  and  in  the  mountains  of  the 
Median  highlands.  Tf  Eber.  Here 
we  have  the  progenitor  of  the  He- 
brews. The  name  "  Eber,"  however, 
was  originally  applied  to  all  who 
crossed  the  rivers  of  Mesopotamia 
to  the  west  or  south.  The  Israelites 
were  called  "  Hebrews  "  originally, 
as  designating  those  who  came  over 
from  beyond  the  Euphrates — though 
this  was  their  distinctive  name  as  a 
nation — and  only  afterwards  were 
they  called  "  Israelites  "  as  their  the- 
ocratic name.  But  the  name  "  He- 
brews" is  in  the  Old  Testament 
applied  to  no  other  nation  than  this 
people  of  God. 

25.  Eber's  two  sons  are  here  nam- 
ed. Of  the  one  it  is  simply  men- 
tioned that  a  great  event  occurred 
in  his  day.  Of  the  other,  the  list  of 
descendants  is  given,  with  particu- 
larity, to  vs.  29.  f  Peleg.  "  With 
Peleg  and  his  descendants  the  order 
of  families  breaks  off,  since  a  point 
is  now  reached  where,  in  the  history 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  a  new  era 
commences  through  the  confusion  of 
tongues.  Only  after  the  narration  of 
this  important  event  is  the  genealogy 
of  Peleg's  family  continued,"  (ch. 
11  :  18.) — Oerlach.  "  Some  have  fixed 
the  date  of  the  dispersion  of  nations 
at  the  year  101  after  the  flood,  be- 
cause in  this  year  Peleg  was  born. 
But  the  expression,  'in  his  days,' 
seems  to  indicate  a  later  period, 
when  Peleg  was  already  a  man  of 
note.  He  lived  two  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  years,  and  we  may,  there- 
fore,  x>lace  this  event  towards  the 
close  of  the  third,  or  the  beginning 
of  the  fourth  century  after  the  flood." 
— See  Kurtz.  The  want  of  deftnite- 
ness  in  the  Biblical  statement  is  to 
be  accounted  for  from  the  fact  that 


the  narrator  purposely  follows  the 
chronological  thread  only  in  and  for 
the  race  to  whom  the  promise  be- 
longs. The  name  Peleg  signifies 
"  division."  The  kindred  verb  oc- 
curs only  three  times  elsewhere  in 
the  Old  Testament,  (1  Chron.  1  :  19 ; 
Job  38  :  25  ;  Ps.  55  :  9.)  In  the  lat- 
ter passage  it  is  found  in  the  sen- 
tence, " Divide  their  tongues"  which 
may  rather  confirm  its  reference 
here,  to  the  event  of  the  confusion 
of  tongues,  and  the  consequent  dis- 
persion of  mankind.  Supposing  that 
this  event  may  have  occurred  at,  or 
soon  after  the  birth  of  Peleg ;  it  is 
estimated  that  there  were  five  hun- 
dred families  of  men  at  that  time. 
This  question,  however,  is  of  small 
importance.  Some  have  understood 
this  division  of  the  earth  to  refer  to 
a  severance  of  the  continents. 

Dr.  Candlish  understands  it  that 
when  men  were  about  to  burst  the 
bounds  of  their  former  habitation, 
led  on  by  Nimrod,  and  inspired  by 
him  with  a  new  spirit  of  enterprise, 
God  was  not  willing  that  they  should 
go  forth  in  disorder.  Eber,  then, 
he  supposes,  received  a  commission 
from  God  to  divide  the  earth  among 
them — to  announce  to  the  several 
tribes  and  families  their  appointed 
homes,  and  to  lay  down  as  on  a  map, 
their  different  routes  and  destina- 
tions. It  is  of  this  work  of  settling 
the  earth  that  Moses  speaks  in  his 
song,  referring  to  the  days  of  old 
when  the  Most  High  divided  to  the 
nations  their  inheritance,  separating 
the  sons  of  Adam,  and  setting  the 
bounds  of  the  people  according  to 
the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
Deut.  32  :  7,  8 ;  Acts  17  :  26.  But 
against  this  plan  of  God  they  rebel 
and  aim  to    consolidate    at  BabeL 


212 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2300. 


27  And  Hadoram,  and  TJzal,  and  Diklah, 

28  And  Obal,  and  Abimael,  and  Sheba, 

29  And  Ophir,  and  Havilah,  and  Jobab :  all  these  icere  the 
sons  of  Joktan. 

30  And  their  dwelling  was  from  Mesha,  as  thou  goest  unto 
Sephar,  a  mount  of  the  east. 


God's    plan,   however,  is   not  frus- 
trated. 

26.  Joktan.  We  have  the  pro- 
genitor of  the  thirteen  Arabian 
tribes  here  designated.  A  province 
and  town  of  Kachtan,  (the  Arab 
name  for  Joktan,)  is  found  three 
days'  journey  north  of  Nedsheran. 
f[  Almodad.  This  is  commonly 
traced  to  Yemen,  but  it  is  not  certain. 
The  Arab  article  Al,  with  Mudad,  a 
name  in  Arab  story  as  the  step-father 
of  Ishmael,  is  thought  by  some  to 
explain  this  term.  The  Allumaio- 
tai  of  Ptolemy  belonged  to  the  inte- 
rior of  Arabia  Felix.  ^  Sheleph. 
The  Salapheni  also  belonged  to  the 
interior  of  Arabia  Felix.  1"  Hazar- 
maveth.  A  district  on  the  Indian 
Ocean  called  Hadramant,  abounds  in 
spices.  ^[  Jerah,  near  Hadramant. 
The  term  signifies  moon,  and  desig- 
nates here  the  coast  and  Mountain 
of  the  Moon. 

27,  28.  Hadoram.  This  points  to 
the  Adramitw,  who  occupied  a  part 
of  the  same  province  with  Hazar- 
maveth.  ^[  Uzal.  This  name  was, 
perhaps,  Azal,  that  of  the  capital  of 
Yemen,  and  is,  perhaps,  still  tracea- 
ble in  its  present  suburb  Oseir.  It 
was  one  of  the  oldest  commercial 
districts  of  Arabia.  1"  Diklah — and 
the  next  two,  Obal  and  Abimael,  are 
not  any  longer  to  be  traced  with  cer- 
tainty. "  The  frequently  shifting 
tribes  of  Arabia  defy  our  identifica- 
tion, the  more  as  they  seldom  leave 
lasting  monuments  of  their  stay,  and 
their  earliest  written  documents 
which  have  reached  us  are  consider- 
ably older  than  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era."  ^[  Sheba.  See  vs.  7, 
notes.  A  queen  of  Sheba,  who  vis- 
ited Solomon,  was  the  mistress  of  a 
rich  realm. 


29.  Ophir.  It  would  seem  from 
the  connexion  here  that  Ophir  must 
be  located  in  Arabia — for  the  tribes 
of  Joktan  are  Arabians,  and  for 
their  localities  see  vs.  80.  It  is  here 
named  between  Sheba  and  Havilah, 
which  are  beyond  question  in  Arabia. 
The  goods  which  Solomon  imported 
from  Ophir  were  native  products  of 
eastern  Arabia,  or  were  transported 
thither  from  India,  to  be  carried 
thence  to  Syria.  As  to  the  precious 
metals  the  testimony  of  antiquity 
is  that  they  abounded  in  Arabia, 
though  now  the  mines  may  be  ex- 
hausted. The  name  Ophir  is  Arabic, 
and  means  "  an  opulent  land."  That 
the  ships  of  Solomon  went  every 
three  years  to  Ophir,  may  refer  to 
the  slowness  of  navigation,  and  not 
to  any  great  distance  of  the  port. 
And  the  three  years'  voyage  was 
probably  to  Tarshish,  ( 1  Kings 
10  :  22  ;  2  Chron.  9  :  21.)  Besides  the 
idea  is  not  that  they  were  three 
years  in  making  the  trip,  but  only 
that  this  was  as  often  as  they  went, 
regularly  or  commonly.  ^[  Havilah. 
See  vs.  7.  If  Jobab.  This  is  a  dis- 
trict in  Arabia  Deserta. 

30.  The  boundaries  of  these  tribes 
are  now  given,  ^f  Mesha.  Gesenius 
finds  this  in  Mesene,  an  island  at  the 
head  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  Their  dwell- 
ing was  from  the  extreme  northwest- 
ern coast  of  the  Persian  Gulf  towards 
Sephar.  This  is  Tsafar,  or  Isfar,  a 
group  of  villages  between  the  port  of 
Mirbah  and  Sadgir,  along  the  coast  of 
the  Indian  Ocean,  where  are  found  the 
stately  ruins  of  Sephar,  once  the  seat 
of  Himyaritic  kings.  The  boundary 
runs  from  north  to  south,  and  south- 
west to  the  mountains  of  the  east, 
which  intersects  Central  Arabia  from 
the  vicinity  of  Mecca  and  Medina  tc 


B.  C.  2446.] 


CHAPTER  XL 


213 


31  These  are  the  sons  of  Shem,  after  their  families,  after  their 
tongues,  in  their  lands,  after  their  nations. 

32  n  These  are  the  families  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  after  their 
generations,  in  their  nations :  °  and  by  these  were  the  nations 
divided  in  the  earth  after  the  flood. 

CHAPTER    XI. 

A  ND    the    whole   earth    was   of    one    language,    and   of  one 

l\   speech. 

n  vs.  1.     o  ch.  9  :  19. 


the  Persian  Gulf.  These  lines  are 
ample  enough  in  their  extent  to  em- 
brace all  the  Joktanites,  and  we  infer 
that  they  all,  Ophir  among  the  rest, 
were  first  to  be  found  in  Arabia, 
though  they  wandered  thence  after- 
wards. 

"In  this  table  there  are  seventy 
names,  exclusive  of  Nimrod,  of  heads 
of  families,  tribes,  or  nations,  de- 
scended from  the  three  sons  of 
Noah  :  fourteen  from  Japheth,  thirty 
from  Ham,  and  twenty-six  from 
Shem.  Among  the  heads  of  tribes 
descended  from  Japheth  are  seven 
grandsons.  Among  those  from  Ham 
are  twenty-three  grandsons,  and 
three  great  grandsons.  Among  those 
of  Shem  are  five  grandsons,  one 
great  grandson,  two  of  the  fourth 
generation,  and  thirteen  of  the  fifth. 
Whence  it  appears  that  the  subdi- 
visions are  traced  farther  in  Ham, 
and  much  farther  in  Shem  than  in 
Japhet,  and  that  they  are  pursued 
only  in  those  lines  which  are  impor- 
tant for  the  coming  events  in  the 
history  of  Shem." — Murphy,  p.  266. 

CHAPTER  XL 

§  29.  Heathenism — Tower  of  Ba- 
bel— Confusion  of  Tongues — 
Dispersion.    Ch.  11 : 1-9. 

"  The  families  of  the  sons  of  Noah  " 
having  now  been  given,  "  after  their 
generations,  in  the  nations,"  to  show 
by  whom  the  nations  were  divided 
(or  distributed)  in  the  earth  after  the 
flood,  the  historian  proceeds  to  relate 


the  Divine  interposition  by  which 
these  families  and  people  became 
scattered,  in  order  to  the  settlement 
of  the  earth.  Mount  Ararat  is  the 
starting  point  and  centre  of  civiliza- 
tion, languages,  and  races.  There 
was  as  yet  but  one  language  spoken 
among  men.  This  would  furnish 
every  facility  for  oneness  of  purpose 
and  execution.  They  agreed  upon 
a  project  for  building  a  lofty  tower, 
whose  top  should  "  reach  to  heaven." 
The  object  is  stated — "  let  us  make 
us  a  name  (vs.  4.)  These  words  in- 
dicated the  hour  of  the  birth  of  hea- 
tl/enism. — Kurtz.  Lest  we  be  scattered 
abroad,  etc.  This  plan  involved 
some  antagonism  to  God — perhaps  a 
hostility  to  the  race  of  Shem,  and  to 
the  salvation  which  was  predicted 
as  to  come  through  that  line.  This 
may  be  expressed  in  the  words, 
"Let  us  make  us  a  name."  Shem 
means  name,  fame.  They  rejected 
God's  command,  to  "replenish  the 
earth,"  and  sought  to  concentrate 
there.  God  interposed,  and  by  a 
miraculous  dividing  and  confusion 
of  their  speech,  broke  up  their  plans, 
and  scattered  them  over  the  earth. 
Here  follows  the  narrative,  explain- 
ing the  nature  of  that  marvellous 
change,  by  which  mankind  passed 
from  being  one  family,  with  a  mutu- 
ally intelligible  speech,  into  many 
nations  ot  diverse  tongues  and  lands 
The  sacred  historian  goes  back  in  the 
record  j  ust  given  to  the  time  of  Pel  eg, 
and  here  explains  the  table  of  nations, 
and  the  future  history  of  the  race. 
1.  Tlie  whole  earth.     The  whole 


214 


GENESIS. 


TB.  C.  244(i 


population  of  the  earth  was  of  one 
language ;  (lit.,  one  Up)  and  of  one 
speech ;  (lit.,  of  the  same  icords.) 
Heb.  Bib.,  of  few,  (lit.,  single)  icords. 
In  the  table  of  nations  this  idea  of 
language  was  expressed  by  the  word 
"tongue,"  (ch.  10  :  5.)  Here  the  fact 
of  the  unity  of  language  is  expressed 
by  a  double  phrase,  the  "  lip  "  prop- 
erly referring  to  the  form  of  speech, 
and  this  followed  by  a  phrase  de- 
noting the  material  of  language,  or 
stock  of  words.  Many  have  held 
that  this  original  language  spoken 
among  men  was  the  Hebrew.  This 
has  been  argued  from  the  evident 
antiquity  of  that  language,  and  from 
the  fact  that  the  names  used  in 
these  earliest  chapters  are  plainly  of 
Hebrew  origin,  as  Adam,  Eve,  Noah. 
But  more  recent  scientific  researches 
have  shown  that  the  languages  now 
existing  are  all  traceable  to  one 
original  tongue,  and  are  nearly  of 
the  same  age.  The  Hebrew  may 
have  most  direct  and  close  affinity  to 
that  original  tongue,  and  hence  the 
early  Biblical  names  transferred  into 
the  Hebrew  would  undergo  but 
slight  modification — no  more  than 
from  different  dialects  of  the  Semit- 
ish  languages,  as  Hebrew  and  Ara- 
bic. The  connexion  between  the 
Semitic  and  Indo-Germanic  lan- 
guages shows  their  original  unity. 
Sanscrit  has  been  claimed  by  some 
as  the  original  tongue.  The  affinity 
between  the  Sanscrit  and  the  Per- 
sian, German,  Latin,  and  Greek  was 
remarked  by  Sir  Wrn.  Jones,  and 
further  set  forth  by  F.  Schlegel  and 
Dr.  Prichard.  Lepsius  has  made  an 
alphabet,  to  which  all  languages  of 
the  world  can  be  traced  back  or  con- 
formed. This  result  of  learned  in- 
vestigation goes  also  strongly  to 
prove  the  oneness  of  the  human  race, 
having  their  origin  in  a  single  pair. 
The  American  languages,  about 
which  there  was  difficulty,  are  de- 
cided to  be  of  Asiatic  origin.  See 
Delitzsch,  p.  311.  "  Comparative  phil- 
ology, after  divers  fluctuations,  set- 
tles into  the  belief  that  languages 
will  ultimately  prove  to  have  been 


all  derived  from  a  common  basis." — 
Bawttnson.  Sir  II.  Bawlinson  re- 
marks of  the  different  races  of  western 
Asia,  that  "  if  we  were  to  be  guided  by 
the  mere  intersection  of  linguistic 
paths,  and  independently  of  all  ref- 
erence to  the  Scriptural  record,  we 
should  still  be  led  to  fix  on  the  plains 
of  Shinar  as  the  focus  from  which 
the  various  lines  had  radiated."  It 
is  not  at  all  necessary  to  suppose 
that  seventy  languages  were  pro- 
duced from  one  at  this  crisis,  but 
that  laws  of  variation  were  now  in- 
troduced, which  at  once  served  the 
Divine  purpose,  and  started  a  pro- 
cess, which  in  combination  with  the 
new  circumstances,  issued  in  all  the 
varieties  of  human  language  which 
have  since  existed.  Max  Midler  con- 
tends that  the  problem  of  the  com- 
mon origin  of  language  has  no  ne- 
cessary connexion  with  the  problem 
of  the  common  origin  of  mankind. 
And  as  races  may  change  their  lan- 
guage, as  in  several  instances  they 
have  done,  any  attempt  to  square 
the  classification  of  races  and  tongues 
must  fail.  It  was  usual  formerly  to 
speak  of  Japhetic,  Hamitic,  and 
Semitic  languages.  The  first  name 
has  now  been  replaced  by  Aryan, 
the  second  by  African,  and  the  third 
is  retained,  though  with  some  change 
in  its  scientific  definition.  See  p. 
328.  "  We  have  examined  all  possi- 
ble forms  which  language  can  as- 
sume, and  we  have  now  to  ask,  Can 
we  reconcile  with  these  three  dis- 
tinct forms,  the  radical,  the  termina- 
tional,  and  the  inflectional,  the  ad- 
mission of  one  common  origin  of 
human  speech?  I  answer,  decided- 
ly, yes.  Every  inflectional  language 
was  once  agglutinative,  and  every 
agglutinative  language  was  once 
monosyllabic.  This  is  the  only  pos- 
sible way  in  which  the  realities  of 
the  Sanskrit,  or  any  other  inflec- 
tional language  can  be  explained." 
"  The  four  hundred  or  five  hundred 
roots  which  remain  as  the  constitu- 
ent elements  in  different  families  of 
languages  are  not  interjections,  nor 
are  they  imitations.     They  are  pho- 


B.  C.  2446.] 


CHAPTER  XI. 


215 


2  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  journeyed  from  the  east,  that 
they  found  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar,  and  they  dwelt  there. 

3  And  they  said  one  to  another,  Go  to,  let  us  make  brick,  and 
burn  them  thoroughly.  And  they  had  brick  for  stone,  and  slime 
had  they  for  mortar. 

4  And  they  said,  Go  to,  let  us  build  us  a  city,  and  a  tower 
a  whose  top  may  reach  unto  heaven ;  and  let  us  make  us  a  name, 
lest  we  be  scattered  abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth. 

a  Deut.  1  :  28. 


netic  types,  produced  by-  a  power  in- 
herent in  human  nature.  Though 
when  we  say  by  nature,  we  mean  by 
the  hand  of  God.  Man  possessed  in- 
stinctively the  faculty  of  giving  ar- 
ticulate expressions  to  the  rational 
conceptions  of  his  mind."  "  The  for- 
mation of  the  Sanskrit,"  says  Prof. 
Pott,  "as  it  is  handed  down  to  us, 
may  have  been  preceded  by  a  state  of 
the  greatest  simplicity  and  entire  ab- 
sence of  inflections,  such  as  is  exhibit- 
ed to  the  present  day  by  the  Chinese, 
and  other  monosyllabic  languages." 
"  Indeed,"  says  Miiller,"  it  is  impos- 
sible that  it  should  have  been  other- 
wise." 

Observe. — Unity  of  language  was 
necessary  to  united  action.  The 
breaking  up  of  this  confused  their 
plans. 

2.  As  they  journeyed;  lit.,  in 
their  breaking  up.  This  term  is  used 
in  speaking  of  an  encampment  of 
nomades  (or  wandering  tribes)  break- 
ing up  for  removal  from  place  to 
place.  *[  They  journeyed  from  the 
east — rather,  eastward.  In  this  gen- 
eral direction  of  east — strictly,  south- 
east. They  shifted  their  location 
(after  the  manner  of  the  nomades — - 
not  "journeyed  ")  along  the  course  of 
the  river  Euphrates,  which  runs 
"from  the  east "  —  that  is,  the  east- 
ern branch  of  it,  and  afterwards 
southeast.  ^  The  land  of  Shinar  is 
a  natural  centre  for  the  human  fam- 
ily, and  their  distribution  from  this 
central  locality  could  most  easily 
have  oeen  made.  The  valley  of  the 
Euphrates  was  also  the  route  best 
suited  for  conducting  them  to  the 


place   so  peculiarly  fitted  for  their 
subsequent  dispersion.     See  Bush. 

3.  They  said ;  lit.,  a  man  said,  to 
his  neigJihor.  *T  Go  to.  As  we  would 
say,  come  on.  A  verbal  form  used  as 
an  adverb,  or  interjection — from  aril 
to  give.  *"  Let  us  make  brick.  The 
noun  and  verb  here  are  kindred  to 
each  other  in  form.  The  noun  is 
plural,  meaning  bricks,  and  the  verb 
means  to  make  bricks — both  of  these 
forms  are  from  the  word  meaning  to 
be  white — referring  to  the  whitish 
clay  of  which  the  bricks  were  made. 
The  soil  of  this  region  consists  of 
such  a  clay,  which  is  found  mixed 
with  sand  on  the  river  bank.  This, 
when  wet,  forms  a  brick,  which,  on 
exposure  to  the  sun,  becomes  hard  as 
stone.  These  are  the  remarkable 
bricks  of  Babylon,  that  bear  the  ar- 
rowhead inscriptions,  and  have  stood 
for  ages  proof  against  the  action  of 
the  elements.  Many  of  these  have 
also  been  unburied  in  this  very  re- 
gion, and  there  have  been  brought 
to  light  thus  most  valuable  inscrip- 
tions under  the  eye  of  Layard,  Botta, 
Rawlinson,  and  others.  The  bricks, 
as  they  are  now  found,  show  that 
they  must  have  been  exposed  to  the 
action  of  fire.  These  fire-burnt 
bricks  were  the  more  durable,  and 
were  sometimes  laid  as  an  outer 
covering  to  walls  of  sun-dried  brick. 
The  pyramids  of  Sakhara  in  Egypt, 
near  the  great  pyramid  of  Cheops, 
are  built  of  brick.  The  ruins  of  the 
palace  of  the  Cesars  at  Rome,  still 
standing  on  the  Palatine  hill,  are  of 
brick,  hard  as  stone.  Tf  Slims;  lit., 
bitumen.    This  is  a  mineral  cement 


216 


GENESIS. 


[B.  0.  2446 


5  b  And  the  Lord  came  down  to  see  the  city  and  the  tower, 
which  the  children  of  men  builded. 

6  And  the  Lord  said,  Behold,  cthe  people  is  one,  and  they 
have  all  d  one  language ;  and  this  they  begin  to  do :  and  now 
nothing  will  be  restrained  from  them,  which  they  have  e  imagined 
to  do. 

7  Go  to,  f  let  us  go  down,  and  there  confound  their  language, 
that  they  may  Snot  understand  one  another's  speech. 

b  ch.  18  :  21 ;  c  ch.  9  :  19  ;   Acts  IT  :  26.     d  vs.  1.    e  Ps.  2  :  1.     f  ch.  1  :  26  ;    Ps.  2  :  4;   Acts 
2  :  4,  5,  6.     g  ch.  42  :  23  ;  Deut.  28  :  49  ;  Jer.  5  ;  15 ;  1  Cor.  14  :  2,  11. 


— a  pitchy  substance,  called,  in  its 
solid  state  ;,asphaltum;  and  so  the  Heb. 
word  here  is  rendered  in  the  Septua- 
gint.  It  abounds  on  the  shore  of  the 
Dead  Sea.  A  most  remarkable  series 
of  mounds  are  found  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  Euphrates,  called  Sirs 
Nimrud  (Nimrod's  tower)  and  tradi- 
tion has  marked  these  as  the  remains 
of  the  tower  of  Babel.  This  slime  is 
used  to  this  day  in  Assyria  for  mortar. 
4.  This  was  part  of  the  plan  of 
which  the  making  of  bricks  is  first 
stated  in  the  narrative.  ^f  A  city 
and  a  tower,  and  its  head  in  the  heav- 
ens. This  is  a  figurative  phrase,  to 
express  a  great  height.  (See  Deut. 
1  :  28 ;  9:1.)  We  need  not  sup- 
pose that  they  entertained  a  thought 
of  building  up  to  the  heaven.  They 
aimed  probably  at  military  defence, 
and  perhaps  meant  to  use  their  build- 
ing for  astronomical  observations. 
Yet  it  was  in  a  spirit  of  proud 
boasting  and  defiance  of  God  that 
the  work  was  undertaken.  ^f  A 
name.  Their  declared  object  was 
to  make  to  themselves  a  name. 
(Heb.,  Shem.)  This  was  the  proud 
aim  of  heathenism — to  attain  to 
glory,  without  God,  by  human  wis- 
dom and  might.  The  nations  hence- 
forth walk  in  their  own  ways,  (Acts 
14 :  16,)  until  from  their  vain  and 
ecattered  attempts  they  are  reunited 
at  Jerusalem  in  the  Pentecost  —  a 
specimen  only  of  what  remains  to  be 
realized.  'The  words  above  may  ex- 
press a  hostility  to  the  race  of  Shem. 
"  Let  us  make  us  a  Shem  " — (a  name.) 
^f  Be  scattered.  The  result  that  they 
would  avoid  in  building  the  city  and 


tower,  was  the  very  dispersion,  or 
scattering,  that  God  enjoined  upon 
them  for  the  populating  of  the  earth. 
Nimrod  was  probably  the  projector 
of  this  atheistic  scheme,  and.  he  was 
the  man  of  sin  of  that  time.  But 
observe  (vs.  8)  God  took  other  meas- 
ures for  scattering  them,  and  accom- 
plished His  will. 

5.  Jehovah  came  down,  etc.  This 
is  spoken  after  the  manner  of  men, 
to  show  that  God  took  notice  of  that 
wickedness,  and  set  Himself  to  inter- 
pose against  it. 

6.  The  Lord  {Jehovah)  said.  This 
language  is  used  to  convey  to  us  the 
idea  of  the  principle  upon  which  Je- 
hovah proceeded  in  putting  a  stop  to 
this  iniquity.  What  He  said — that 
is,  the  view  that  He  took  of  it,  and 
the  plan  He  adopted  is  here  narrated. 
Lo,  the  people  is  one,  and  they  have 
all  one  language ;  lit.,  {one  lip  to  all 
of  them,)  and  this  is  their  beginning 
to  do  —  their  undertaking.  And 
now  it  shall  not  be  restrained  to  them, 
{nothing  mil  be  too  hard  for  them) 
which  they  will  purpose  to  do,  Job  42 : 2. 
This  is  perhaps  an  intimation  that 
they  would  carry  out  their  scheme 
but  for  the  Divine  interference. 

7.  Go  to — come,  let  us  go  down,  and 
confound  there  their  lip.  The  term 
here  rendered  confound,  means  to 
pv'^r  together — in  a  way  to  produce 
confusion  of  sounds,  or  dialects. 
If  That  they  may  not  hear,  a  man  the 
lip  of  his  neighbor.  Whatever  was 
the  precise  change  wrought  in  hu- 
man language,  it  was  with  the  ex- 
press object  of  making  the  builders 
unintelligible  to  each  other  —  so  as 


B.  C.  2441] 


CHAPTER  XI 


217 


8  So  h  the  Lord  scattered  them  abroad  from  thence  »  upon  the 
face  of  all  the  earth:  and  they  left  off  to  build  the  city. 

9  Therefore  is  the  name  of  it  called  Babel,  k  because  the  Lord 
did  there  confound  the  language  of  all  the  earth  :  and  from 
thence  did  the  Lord  scatter  them  abroad  upon  the  face  of  all  the 
earth. 

10  ^[  *  These  are  the  generations  of  Shem  :  Shem  was  an  hun- 
dred years  old,  and  begat  Arphaxad  two  years  after  the  flood. 

h  Luke  1:51.    i  ch.  10  :  25,  32.    k  1  Cor.  14  :  23.    1  ch.  10  :  22  ;  1  Chron.  1  :  IT. 


to  break  up  their  unity  of  action. 
The  Scripture  gives  us  here  the  only 
history  of  the  division  of  mankind 
into  peoples  by  means  of  different 
tongues.  And  the  Scripture  also 
tells  us  how,  under  the  gospel,  na- 
tional distinctions  were  broken  down 
in  order  to  introduce  a  universal 
church,  (Acts  8  :  14.) 

8.  This  is  the  history  of  men's  dis- 
persion over  the  globe.  Jehovah,  by 
means  of  thus  confusing  human 
speech,  scattered  them  abroad — dis- 
persed th.evo.from  thence  upon  tlieface 
of  all  the  earth.  All  unity  of  counsel 
was  thus  destroyed,  and  as  a  natural 
result  —  the  very  result  intended  — 
they  ceased  to  build  the  city  ;  and  the 
further  consequence  was  that  they 
were  separated  and  scattered  to  all 
quarters.  Nothing  is  here  said  of  the 
tower,  and  it  may  be  that  the  tower 
had  already  far  progressed.  Tradi- 
tions relate  that  the  tower  was  demol- 
ished by  the  lightning,  with  terrible 
tempest.  Yet  it  has  been  supposed 
that  the  immense  pyramidal  ,tower 
built  thereabouts  by  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, was  erected  on  the  site  and  ruin 
of  this  tower.  In  the  ruins  that  are 
now  found  in  that  vicinity  there  is 
the  appearance  of  a  conflagration — 
the  bricks  seeming  to  have  been  run 
into  solid  masses  by  the  action  of  ex- 
treme heat.  A  Jewish  tradition, 
given  by  BocJiari,  declares  that  fire 
fell  from  heaven  and  split  the  tower 
through  to  its  foundation.  The  dis- 
tance of  the  modern  Birs  Nimrud 
from  Babylon  is  the  great  difficulty 
in  the  way  of  its  identification.  Yet 
the  Birs  temple  gives  us  the  best 

VOL.    I. 10. 


idea  of  the  ancient  Babylonian  tem- 
ple tower,  and  may  show  us  the  proba- 
ble character  and  shape  of  the  build- 
ing,'at  least  better  than  any  other  ruin. 
{Raw.  Herodotus.  Smith's  Bib.  Die.) 
Observe. —  They  projected  the 
tower  to  avoid  being  scattered,  as 
God  commanded  them ;  but  they 
were  scattered  after  all,  in  spite  of 
their  utmost  opposition.  So  God 
will  not  be  baffled. 

9.  Babel.  This  name  is  connected 
with  the  Hebrew  verb,  meaning  to 
confound,  and  would  mean  properly 
confusion.  But  the  native  etymolo- 
gy is  Bab  11 — the  gate  of  II,  or  El — 
"  the  gate  of  God."  This  may  have 
been  a  name  given  to  it  by  Nimrod, 
{Smith)  signifying  his  proud  and 
atheistic  designs,  but  afterwards 
applied  (the  same  name)  to  express 
the  confounding  result  more  em- 
phatically. ^[  The  language  of  all 
the  earth,  which  was  originally  of 
one  speech — (one  lip,)  ch.  11 : 1 — was 
thus  broken  up  into  divers  dialects, 
so  as  to  be  thrown  into  confusion. 
This  was  God's  plan  for  bringing 
about  a  dispersion  of  the  people,  in 
order  to  the  peopling  of  the  whole 
earth.  This  would  render  consolida- 
tion impossible,  until  at  last,  under 
the  gospel,  a  miracle  of  tongues 
should  bring  all  mankind  together 
in  Christ,  (Acts  2:5.) 

§  30.  Semitic  Line  —  Terah  and 
Abram.     Ch.  11:10-32. 

10.  Shem.  The  generations  of  Shem 
are  given  here  only  in  part.  This  is 
often  the  case  with  the  genealogies, 


218 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2410-2106. 


11  And   Shera  lived  after  he  begat  Arphaxad  five  hundred 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

12  And  Arphaxad  lived  five  and  thirty  years,  m  and  begat 
Salah. 

13  And  Arphaxad  lived  after  he  begat  Salah  four  hundred  «»nd 
three  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

14  And  Salah  lived  thirty  years,  and  begat  Eber : 

15  And  Salah  lived  after  he  begat  Eber  four  hundred  and  three 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

16  n  And  Eber  lived  four  and  thirty  years,  and  begat  °  Peleg : 

17  And  Eber  lived  after  he  begat  Peleg  four  hundred  aud 
thirty  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

18  And  Peleg  lived  thirty  years,  and  begat  Reu : 

19  And  Peleg  lived  after  he  begat  Reu  two  hundred  and  nine 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

20  And  Reu  lived  two  and  thirty  years,  and  begat  P  Serug. 

21  And  Reu  lived  after  he  begat  Serug  two  hundred  and  seven 
years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

22  And  Serug  lived  thirty  years,  and  begat  Nahor : 

23  And  Serug  lived  after  he  begat  Nahor  two  hundred  years, 
and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 

24  And   Nahor   lived    nine    and    twenty   years,    and    begat 
q  Terah. 

25  And  Nahor  lived  after  he  begat  Terah   an  hundred  and 
nineteen  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters. 


m  Luke  3  :  36.     n  1  Chron.  1  :  19.     o  Luke  3  :  35.     p  Luke  3  :  35.    q  Luke  3  :  34. 


and  is  the  occasion  of  much  misun- 
derstanding of  them.  But  the  wri- 
ter's object  is  now  to  introduce  us 
to  Abram,  as  coming  in  the  line 
of  Shem,  according  to  the  promise. 
This  would  be  through  ten  gene- 
rations —  Shem,  Arphaxad,  Salah, 
Eber,  Peleg,  Reu,  Serug,  Nahor,  Te- 
rah, Abram.  ^[  An  hundred  years 
old;  lit.,  son  of  an  hundred  years. 

11.  Shem  lived,  etc.  During  this 
lifetime  of  six  hundred  years  this 
eminent  patriarch  had  been  contem- 
porary with  Methusaleh  and  La- 
mech  before  the  flood,  and  with 
Abram  and  Isaac  a  few  years  after 
the  flood. 

13.  Between  Salah  and  Arphaxad 

Luke  inserts  Cainan,  following  the 

G^eek  Septuagint  version,  as  it  was 

^  Bible  in  common  use  among  the 


people  at  the  time.  One  hundred 
and  thirty  years  is  added  by  the 
Greek, for  this  name.  See  Table, p.  222. 
14-26.  It  is  to  be  noted  here  that 
the  lifetime  of  men  rapidly  sinks 
from  Noah's  nine  hundred  and  fifty 
years  and  Shem's  six  hundred  years 
to  Arphaxad's  four  hundred  and 
thirty-eight,  Selah  four  hundred  and 
thirty-three,  and  Eber  four  hundred 
sixty-four.  But  from  Peleg  (ch. 
10 :  25)  the  age  of  man  further  de- 
creases  from  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  years  to  Nahor  one  hundred 
and  forty-eight  years  old.  This  is 
due,  in  part,  to  the  change  of  cli- 
mate after  the  flood,  and  in  part 
also  to  the  change  of  habits  by  sep- 
aration of  men  in  nations.  But 
Shem  began  to  have  children  in  his 
hundredth  year,  Arphaxad  in    his 


B.  C.  2155-2025.] 


GENESIS  XI. 


219 


26  And  Terah  lived  seventy  years,  and  r  begat  Abram,  Kahor, 
and  Ha  ran. 

27  ^[  Now  these  are  the  generations  of  Terah  :  Terah  begat 
Abram,  Nahor,  and  Ha  ran :   and  Haran  begat  Lot. 

28  And  Haran  died  before  his  father  Terah,  in  the  land  of  his 
nativity,  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees. 

29  And  Abram  and  Nahor  took  them  wives:  the  name  ot 
Ab ram's  wife  was  s  Sarai ;  and  the  name  of  Nahor's  wife  l  Milcah, 
the  daughter  of  Haran,  the  father  of  Milcah,  and  the  father  of  Iscah. 

30  But  u  Sarai  was  barren;  she  had  no  child. 

31  And  Terah  w  took  Abram  his  son,  and  Lot  the  son  of  Ha- 
ran his  son's  son,  and  Sarai  his  daughter-in-law,  his  son  Abram's 
wife ;  and  they  went  forth  with  them  from  x  Ur  of  the  Chaldees 

r  Josh.  24  :  2  ;  1  Chron.  1  :  26.     s  ch.  17:  15 ;   20:  12.    t  ch.  22  :  20.     u  ch.  16:  1,  2  ;  18 :  11, 
12.    \rch.  12:1.    x  Neh.  9  :  7 ;  Acts  7:  4. 


thirty-fifth,  and  so  on,  till  Terah, 
who  first  was  a  father  in  his  seven- 
tieth year. 

26.  Here  the  genealogy  closes  with 
naming  the  three  sons  of  Terah  (as 
in  ch.  5  :  32,  with  the  three  sons  of 
Noah)  and  these  have  reference  to 
the  further  history,  e.  g.,  Abram 
as  the  progenitor  and  head  of  the 
chosen  people,  Nahor  as  the  ances- 
tor of  Rebecca,  and  Haran  as  the 
father  of  Lot,  (compare  vs.  29  with 
22  :  20-23.)  It  is  not  to  be  under- 
stood that  these  are  mentioned  in 
the  order  of  their  birth,  but  of  thei* 
importance  in  the  history,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  sons  of  Noah.  The  young- 
est is  here  first  named.  Abram 
was  born  when  Terah  was  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years  old,  (compare 
vs.  32  with  ch.  12 : 4.)  Haran  was 
the  eldest.  See  vs.  29.  See  Notes, 
Acts  7 :  4. 

26.  Haran  died,  and  before  his  father 
— in  presence  of  Terah  his  father; 
(lit.,  before  the  face  of)  and  of  course 
"before  the  death  of  his  father.  ^[  Ur 
of  the  Chaldees.  This  place  is  proba- 
bly the  modern  Orfa  (Edessa.)  Some 
make  it  to  be  Ur,  between  Hatra 
and  Nisibis,  near  Arrapachitis. — 
Keil.  Stanley,  (Jewish  Church.  Ap- 
pendix 1)  argues  for  Orfa  as  the  an- 
cient Ur,  from  five  considerations. 

1.  That  it  was  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Euphrates,  and  thus  agrees 


better  with  the  term  "Hebrew," 
which  was  applied  to  crossing  the 
river. 

2.  The  general  tenor  of  the  narra- 
tive closely  connects  Ur  with  Haran 
and  Aram  in  the  northwest  of  Meso- 
potamia, and  within  reach  of  Orfa, 
(say  a  d&fa  journey,)  Gen.  11 :  27-31 ; 
12 : 1-4. 

3.  The  "  Chasdim,"  or  Chaldees, 
were  in  the  north,  as  would  seem, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  later 
usage  of  tkt3  term,  Gen.  11 :  10,  11- 
28. 

4.  The  local  features  of  Orfa  ar& 
guarantees  for  its  remote  antiquity 
as  a  city. 

5.  The  traditions  are  at  least  aa 
strong  as  those  which  may  have 
originated  in  the  anxiety  of  the  Jew- 
ish settlement  of  Babylonia  to  claim 
their  ancestor's  birthplace,  and 
change  the  name  of  Chaldea. 

Ur  in  Heb.  means  light,  and  was 
probably  so  called  from  the  Persian 
idolatry  of  fire  worship,  prevalent 
among  this  people.  Abram  was 
called  by  God  out  of  this  region  of 
idolaters,  to  be  a  follower  of  the  true 
God.  Tf  Iscah.  The  Jewish  tradi- 
tion,^ as  given  by  Josephus,  (Ant 
1,  685,)  as  also  Jerome  and  the  Tar 
gum,  understand  this  to  be  the  same 
person  as  Sarah,  with  another  name. 
31.  Terah  took  Abram.  We  are 
elsewhere  more  expressly  informed 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2025 


to  go  into  y  the  land  of  Canaan  :  and  they  came  unto  Haran,  and 
dwelt  there. 

ych.l0:19. 


that  this  movement  was  made  on  ac- 
count of  the  Divine  call  to  Abram, 
(ch.  12  :  1.)  In  ch.  12  :  5  Abram 
is  spoken  of  as  taking  Lot  and 
Sarah,  etc.,  because  there  begins 
the  more  special  history  of  Abram. 
Here  we  are  informed  that  Terah,  as 
the  father  of  the  family,  was  in  the 
expedition,  and  this  brings  us  to  the 
close  of  Terah's  history.  After  Abra- 
ham's departure  from  Haran,  Terah 
no    more    appears.      See  Notes    on 


Acts  7  :  4,  where  Stephen  says  that 
Abram  departed  from  Haran  "af- 
ter his  father  (Terah)  died."  The 
name  Abram,  compounded  of  the 
two  Hebrew  words  (av— father,  and 
ram — high,)  means  "  father  of  eleva- 
tion, or  eminence" — or  high  father — 
progenitor,  ancestor.  He  is  called 
by  this  brief  name  until  ch.  17 : 5, 
where  a  slight  change  makes  for 
him  a  new  name,  meaning  father  of 
a  multitude. 


We  give  the  genealogy  from  this  point  onward. 

TERAH. 


Haran. 


I*cah,  Milcah,  Lot. 

I 


Na 

(of  Mil 


Be 


hor 
call.) 


Laban,  Rebekah. 

I 


ABRAM. 


(ofHagar,)  (of  Sarah.) 

Ishmael,  ISAAC 

(of  Rebekah.) 


Esau  (Edom)      Jacob  (Israel  J 


(of  Le|ah> 


Reuben.  Simeon, 
Levi,  Jiulah, 
Issachar,        Zebulun, 
Dinah. 


(of  Zilpah)      (of  Ra 

I 


Dan,        Napthali. 


Gad,      Asher. 


chel) 


Joseph, 


Benjamin. 


Ephraini,        Manas-eli. 


Kurtz,  Keil,  and  others  think  that 
Terah  was  not  indeed  dead  before 
Abram's  departure  from  Haran, 
but  that  as  the  call  of  Abraham  is 
first  mentioned  in  ch.  12  after  the 
death  of  Terah  is  recorded,  the  order 
of  the  narrative  is  so  far  followed, 
without  reference  to  the  precise 
chronology.  See  the  explanation  in 
Notes  on  Acts  7 :  4.  Obsekve. — The 
promise  was  four  hundred  and  thirty 
years  before  the  exodus,  (Ex.  15  :  40.) 
This  is  also  incidentally  stated  bv 
Paul,  (Gal.  3 :  17.)  It  was  declared 
that  his  seed  was  to  be  a  stranger  in 
a  land  that  was  not  theirs  for  four 
hundred  years,  (ch.   15 :  13.)     It  is 


hence  inferred  that  Isaac,  his  seed, 
was  born  about  thirty  years  after 
the  call  of  Abram.  Abram  was  one 
hundred  years  old  when  Isaac  was 
born,  and  hence  the  call  was  when 
Abram  was  seventy  years  old,  and 
five  years  before  he  entered  the  land 
of  Canaan,  (Gen.  12  :  4.)  Terah  was 
two  hundred  years  old  when  he 
started  for  Canaan,  and  died  at  two 
hundred  and  five,  when  Abraham 
was  seventy-five.  Terah  seems  to 
have  been  ill  at  Haran,  and  the  ex- 
pedition was  probably  delayed  there 
some  five  years.  ^[  From  TJr  of  the 
Ghaldees.  Abram's  native  place — a 
region  of  idolaters.    (See  Acts  7 :  5. 


B.  C.  2020.] 


CHAPTER  XI. 


221 


32  And  the  days  of  Terah  were  two  hundred  and  five  years; 
and  Terah  died  in  Haran. 


notes.)  See  vs.  28,  notes.  1"  Came  j 
unto  Haran,  (Eng.  version,  Acts  7 : 4, 
"  Char  ran.  )  This  place  is  called 
"  the  city  of  Nahor,"  (Gen.  24 :  10. 
Compare  27  :  43,)  where  Nahor's  de- 
scendants were  settled.  It  was  in 
Mesopotamia  (Padan)  Aram  ch. 
25  :  20,  where  it  is  still  found  bear- 
ing the  same  name.  The  people 
of  "  Harran,"  as  the  name  still 
stands,  retained  till  a  late  time  the 
Chaldean  worship  and  language. 
It  is  now  inhabited  by  a  few  Arabs, 
and  is  on  a  small  branch  of  the 
Euphrates.  About  the  time  of  the 
Christian  era  it  seems  to  have  been 
included  in  the  kingdom  of  Edessa, 
ruled  by  king  Agbarus.  Note. — 
Raiolinson  states  that  Ur  which  he 
takes  to  be  the  modern  Mugheir,  has 
furnished  some  of  the  most  ancient 
of  the  Babylonian  inscriptions.  It 
seems  to  have  been  the  primeval 
capital  of  Chaldea,  Note,  p.  253. 
But  this  is  on  the  western  side  of  the 
Euphrates.     See  Notes,  vss.  28-28. 

32.  Two  hundred  and  five  years 
are  here  given  as  the  days  of  Terah. 
In  Acts  7 : 4,  Stephen  states  that 
Abraham  removed  into  this  land 
(Judea)  when  his  father  was  dead — 
when  his  father  died.  Abraham 
was  at  that  time  seventy-five  years 
old.  He  was  born,  as  we  infer,  when 
Terah  was  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years  old,  and  sixty  years  after  the 
time  spoken  of  in  ch.  11  :  28,  when 
Terah  "begat  Abram,  Nahor,  and 
Haran " — that  is,  began  to  beget 
these  —  when  the  eldest  of  them 
(Haran)  was  born.  See  vs.  29.  See 
notes  on  Acts  7  :  4.  The  Samaritan 
version  has  changed  the  age  of  Te- 
rah from  two  hundred  and  five  to 
one  hundred  and  forty-five,  in  order 
to  get  rid  of  the  sixty-years  account- 
ed for  above.  This  change  is  wholly 
arbitrary  and  groundless.  See  vs. 
31,  notes.  It  has  been  estimated 
that  of  the  ten  generations,  from 
Noah   to   Abram,  there  would    be 


about  fifteen  millions  of  inhabitants 
when  Abram  was  thirty  years  of 
age.  Taking  a  higher  average  of 
eight  for  a  family,  it  is  reckoned  that 
there  were  thirty  millions  at  the  one 
hundredth  year  of  Abram.  The 
boundaries  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  as 
inhabited  by  the  Canaanites,  are 
given  in  the  table  of  nations,  ch. 
10  :  19.  Terah  wished  to  accompany 
Abram  and  Sarah,  though  he  had 
been  involved  in  the  idolatry  of  the 
Chaldeans.  The  revelation  made  to 
Abram  probably  served  as  a  means 
of  removing  from  his  mind  this  de- 
lusion. The  true  God  was  acknowl- 
edged in  some  quarters  in  and  about 
the  land  of  Canaan.  Job  lived  about 
this  time  in  the  land  of  Uz,  in  Idu- 
mea,  and  his  friends  in  that  vicinity. 
And  in  Canaan  there  was  Melchize- 
dec,  king  of  Salem,  and  priest  of  the 
Most  High  God,  who  ministered, 
doubtless,  to  not  a  few. 

Note  1. — God  had  already  twice 
revealed  His  grace,  viz. — to  Adam, 
and  to  Noah— in  the  formality  of  a 
covenant,  looking  also  distinctly  to 
the  whole  race,  as  within  the  sphere 
of  salvation.  We  have  seen  that 
the  revelation  of  God's  grace  to  the 
antediluvian  world  was  confirmed 
and  enlarged  by  that  made  to  the 
postdiluvians.  And  now  a  further, 
step  is  to  be  taken  in  the  unfolding 
of  the  plan  of  grace  by  a  Redeemer. 

Note  2. — During  the  period  from 
Noah  to  Abraham  sin  appeared 
chiefly  under  four  leading  forms : 
unholy  marriages,  drunkenness,  filial 
infidelity  and  defiance  of  God.  These 
were  high  crimes  against  society. 
Insubordination  in  the  family  strikes 
at  the  root  of  all  government,  human 
and  divine.  But  Noah  preached, 
and  God  enforced  his  preaching  by 
warnings,  followed  at  length  by 
overwhelming  judgment.  Man  was 
established  in  his  headship  of  tho 
earth  by  the  grant  of  animal  food — 
civil  government  was  formally  insti. 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2020. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

l\TOW  the  a  Lord  had  said  unto  Abram,  Get  thee  out  of  thy 
J_\  country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father's  house, 
unto  a  land  that  I  will  shew  thee : 

a  ch.  15  :  7 ;  Neh.  9:7:  Isa.  41  :  2 ;  Acts  7:3:  Heb.  11:3. 


tuted  in  the  investiture  of  the  mag- 
istrate with  the  right  of  capital  pun- 
ishment, as  a  protection  to  human 
life,  and  the  covenant  of  grace  was 
repeated  to  Noah,  as  a  security 
against  a  deluge  in  future.  The 
drowning  of  the  ungodly  race,  and 
the  salvation  of  the  godly  household 
is  a  powerful  enforcement  of  God's 
claims  for  all  time.  See  Notes,  ch. 
13  :  12. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

§  31.  The  Call  and  Migration 
of  Abram — Third  Head  of  the 
Race  —  Chosen  Family.  Ch. 
12  :  1-9. 

The  history  of  Abram  from  his 
call  to  his  death  divides  itself  into 
four  stadia,  whose  beginnings  are  in- 
dicated through  Divine  revelations 
of  remarkable  significance.  The  first 
stadium  (ch.  12-14,)  begins  with  the 
call  of  Abram  and  his  wandering  in 
Canaan.     The  second  stadium  (ch.  15 


and  16,)  opens  with  the  promise  of  an 
heir  and  a  solemnizing  of  the  covenant. 
The  third  stadium  (ch.  17-21,)  begins 
with  the  confirming  of  the  covenant, 
through  the  change  of  name,  and 
the  instituting  of  the  covenant  seal 
of  circumcision.  The  fourth  stadi- 
um (ch.  22-25  :  11,)  begins  with  the 
trial  of  Abraham  for  the  assuring 
and  fulfiling  of  his  faith. — Keil  and 
Delitsch,  p.  131-2. 

A  new  stadium  in  the  economy 
of  grace  begins  with  the  history  of 
Abram  as  called  of  God.  Here  opens 
the  Patriarchal  history.  God  had 
interfered  with  the  natural  human 
development,  as  it  was  godless,  to 
check  and  prevent  it  by  the  confusion 
of  tongues.  He  here  further  unfolds 
His  gracious  purpose — not  now  in 
judgment  as  before,  but  in  mercy. 
His  judgment  at  Babel  was  with  a 
view  to  bless  in  Abraham.  As  one 
who  should  become  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  the  patriarch  must  be  sep- 
arated from  his  people,  who  we^e 
idolaters,  in  order  to  form  a  distinct 


HEBHEW. 

SON'S 

SAM.  PENT. 

SEPT. 

BIRTH. 

Adam 

130 

130 

235 

Seth 

105 

105 

205 

Enos 

90 

90 

190 

Cainan. . .    . 

70 

70 

170 

Mahalaleel. 

65 

05 

165 

Jared 

16-2 

63 

162 

Enoch 

65 

65 

165 

Methuselah 

187 

67 

1S7 

Lamech 

182 

53 

188 

Noah 

500 

500 

500 

100 

100 

lnO  1 

CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


11.  Shem 

12.  Arphaxad.. 

13.  Salah 

14.  Eber 

15.  Peleg 

16.  Reu 

17.  Seru- 

18.  Nahor 

19.  Terah 

(Haran.) 

20.  Abram.  Call 


HEBREW. 

SAM.  TT. 

(97)    2 

(97)     2 

|        35 
30 

135 

130 

34 

134 

30 

130 

32 

132 

30 

130 

29 

79 

S        70 
\        60 

70 

60 

70 

TO 

SEPT. 

(97)  2 

135 

Cainan  130 

130 

134 

130 

132 

130 

170 

TO 

60 

70 


Pate  of  Abram' s  call.     (Browne's  Ordo  Saeclorum,  u.  c.  2020) 2,078        2,379 

I 


3,5(34 


B.  C.  2020.] 


CHAPTER  XII. 


covenant  lineage.  This  separation 
was,  however,  only  to  prepare  the 
way  for  a  dispensation  that  was  to 
embrace  all  nations.  On  Abram's 
part  it  now  appears  that  to  reach 
this  high  distinction  of  a  covenant 
head,  the  world  and  self  must  be 
renounced,  and  God's  call  must  be 
implicitly  obeyed.  The  covenant 
grace  which  was  to  stand  in  the 
place  of  nature  (as  in  regard  to  the 
miraculous  seed,)  called  for  faith, 
and  the  Divine  command  called  for 
obedience.  The  call  of  Abram 
occurs  now  about  midway  between 
Adam  and  Christ.  The  first  two 
thousand  years  of  the  human  his- 
tory are  thus  comprised  within  eleven 
chapters.  This  is  the  greatest  re- 
move from  legendary  or  mythical 
narrative,  which  would  have  been 
most  diffuse.  It  is  compact,  histor- 
ical statement — and  the  most  ancient 
is  the  most  compact — just  where 
all  other  histories  (so  called)  most 
abound  in  fable.  Abram  appears 
as  the  tenth  in  the  list  of  patriarchs 
from  Noah,  and  the  third  head  of  the 
human  race,  following  Noah  and 
Adam.  So,  also,  Noah  was  tenth 
from  Adam.  And  as  there  was  a 
promise  and  a  prophecy  belonging 
to  each  of  these  former  personages, 
so  here,  to  Abram,  the  prophecy  of 
Christ  is  further  given  and  still  more 
unfolded. 

The  victory  over  the  serpent  prom- 
ised to  Adam  was  not  yet  achieved. 
So  far  from  this,  the  Japhetic  branch 
of  the  human  family  had  departed 
from  the  true  religion,  and  even  the 
Semitic  line  had  become  corrupted 
by  idolatry — contrary  to  the  hopes 
held  out  to  Noah  in  the  blessing  on 
his  sons.  It  is  out  of  this  Semitic 
branch  that  Abram  is  now  chosen, 
according  to  the  intimation  given  to 
Noah  in  the  blessing  upon  Shem. 
"Blessed  be  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
Shem — Japhet  shall  dwell  in  the 
tents  of  Shem,"  etc.,  (ch.  9  :  26,  27.) 
Abram  is  to  be  the  head  of  a  faith- 
ful line  to  be  taken  into  covenant 
with  God,  and  to  be  brought  into 
possession  of  a  land  of  promise,  and 


there  to  be  put  in  training  for  the 
blessing.     See  Notes,  ch.  13  :  17. 

"  The  history  of  the  Old  Cove- 
nant," as  Kurtz  remarks,  "begins 
with  the  strictest  particularism,  that 
is,  with  the  selection  of  a  particular 
individual  and  of  his  seed ;  but  it 
immediately  opens  a  view  of  the 
widely  extended,  or  general  plan  of 
the  salvation  of  all  nations.  The 
purpose  and  end  of  the  election  of 
Abram  is  the  salvation  of  the  whole 
world." 

There  are  six  stages  of  the  Cove- 
nant History : 

(1.)  In  the  first  stage  it  is  that  of 
a  Family. 

(2.)  In  the  second  stage  it  is  that  of 
a  Nation. 

(3.)  In  the  third  stage  it  is  that  of 
a  Kingdom — with  the  institution  of 
the  royal  and  prophetical  lines. 

(4.)  In  the  fourth  stage,  the  his- 
tory is  that  of  the  nation's  exile  and 
return. 

(5.)  The  fifth  stage  is  that  of  more 
immediate  expectations,  commencing 
with  the  cessation  of  prophecy. 

(6.)  The  sixth  stage  is  that  of  the 
fulfilment,  when  the  salvation  is  to 
be  exhibited  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Here  we  are  concerned  with  the 
first  stage  of  the  covenant  history — 
which  is  that  of  a  family.  The  fam- 
ily encloses  within  itself,  in  all  their 
original  vigor,  the  germs  and  vital 
powers  of  the  character,  tendency 
and  pursuits,  which  are  gradually 
developed  in  the  people.  This  is  the 
childhood  of  the  history  of  Israel,  in 
which  accordingly  God  appears  as  the 
tutor,  advancing  in  his  communica- 
tions with  the  progress  of  the  pupil. 
Hence,  as  Kurtz  remarks,  this  period 
exceeds  all  others  in  the  number  of 
theophanies,  or  manifestations  of 
God. 

It  is  now  about  four  and  a-quarter 
centuries  since  Jehovah's  last  com- 
munication to  Noah,  that  He  again 
speaks,  here  to  Abram. 

1.  Now  the  Lord  had  said.  More 
literally  this  may  read,  "  The  Lord 
said," — and  may  refer  to  a  call  to 
leave  Haran,  and  not  to  that  which 


224 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2020 


2  b  And  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation,  c  and  I  will  bless 
thee,  and  make  thy  name  great  d  and  thou  shalt  be  a  blessing : 

3  e  And  I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse  him  that 
curseth  thee :  f  and  in  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed. 

bch.  17:6;  18:18;  Deut.  26  :  5 ;  1  Kings  3  :  8.  c  ch.  24:35.  d  ch.  28:4:  Gal.  3  :  14. 
ecb..  27:29;  Exod.  23:22;  Numb.  21 :  9.  fchl8:18;  22:18;  26:4;  Ps.  72:17;  Acts 
0  :  25  ;   Gal.  3  :  8. 


Abrarn  received  in  Ur,  of  which 
Stephen  speaks  in  Acts  7 : 2,  and 
which  was  a  short  time  previous. 
Abram  seems  to  have  waited  in  Ha- 
ran  for  Terah,  who  was  ill,  and  whom 
he  hoped  to  take  with  him  to  the 
land  of  promise,  but  who  was  re- 
moved to  "  the  better  country."  He 
was  to  sunder  three  ties — country, 
kindred,  and  home — and  he  was  to 
go  by  faith.  Here  is  illustrated  the 
implicit  and  powerful  faith  of  the 
patriarchs  as  it  is  presented  in  the 
New  Testament,  in  reference  to  its 
great  principle  of  substantiating 
things  hoped  for,  and  evidencing 
things  not  seen.  Abram  "  went  forth 
not  knowing  whither  he  went,"  but 
what  was  far  better, "  knowing  whom 
he  had  believed."  The  highest  rea- 
son is  to  trust  in  God.  Though  He 
gives  us  no  reason  for  His  command, 
it  is  our  wisdom  to  rest  upon  the 
certain  reasonableness  of  it,  and 
obey,  with  cheerfulness,  assured  that 
He  will  call  us  to  go  nowhere  but 
He  will  make  it  our  advantage  to  go 
— and  no  where  but  it  shall  prove  to 
be  on  the  way  to  the  possession  of 
Canaan.  God  promises  enough — to 
show  him  the  land — and  that  is  the 
land  of  promise.  Dear  to  him  as 
were  his  country,  and  kindred,  and 
father's  house,  he  was  the  more  will- 
ing to  go  out  at  God's  direction,  for 
they  were  idolatrous.  He  is  chosen 
as  the  founder  of  a  new  family,  and 
a  new  order  of  things. 

2.  Here  are  four  clauses  of  the 
stipulation,  all  full  of  encourage- 
ment, even  in  the  lower  and  natural 
aspect.  *[\  I  mil  make  of  thee  a  great 
nation.  God  had  large  plans  for  him 
— a  great  work  to  accomplish  by 
means   of  him  —  as  the  head  of  a 


great  people.  This  was  the  promise 
of  a  numerous  posterity — a  promise 
which  the  apostle  Paul  notices  as 
requiring  that  eminent  faith  of 
Abram — because  it  could  be  mainly 
fulfilled  not  until  after  his  death, 
(Heb.  6  :  15.)  f  I  icill  Ness  thee. 
This,  of  itself,  God's  benediction 
promised,  is  enough.  For  what  is 
good  without  God's  blessing,  and 
what  is  bad,  if  His  blessing  accom- 
pany it!  ^  And  make  thy  name 
great.  Such  honor  He  would  put 
upon  his  name  as  to  make  it  celebra- 
ted and  far-famed — and  instead  of  his 
father's  house,  he  should  be  himself 
exalted  as  the  patriarch  of  a  new 
and  preeminent  house  among  the 
nations.  ^[  Shall  be  a  Messing.  Lit., 
Be  thou  a  blessing.  Sept.,  Thou  shalt 
be  blessed.  But  the  promise  is  that 
Abraham  should  be  a  blessing,  in 
the  highest  sense,  to  others,  and  to 
the  whole  family  of  man.  This  looks 
to  the  benefits  and  blessings  of  re- 
demption, which  were  to  flow  to  all 
men  through  Abram's  line — salva- 
tion by  Jesus  Christ  and  all  the 
fruits  of  the  covenant  of  grace, 
through  all  time.  This  is  the  higher 
aspect. 

3.  I  icill  bless  them,  etc.  God  prom- 
ises further,  so  to  take  sides  with 
Abram  in  the  world,  as  to  make 
common  cause  with  him — share  his 
friendships,  and  treat  his  enemies  as 
His  own.  This  is  the  highest  possi- 
ble pledge.  This  threatening  against 
hostile  people  was  signally  fulfilled 
in  case  of  the  Egyptians,  Edomites, 
Amalekites,  Moabites,  Ammonites, 
and  the  greater  nations — Assyrian, 
Chaldean,  Persian,  Greek  and  Ro- 
man, which  have  fallen  under  the 
curse    of   God    as  here  denounced 


B.  O.  2020.] 


CHAPTER   XII. 


225 


4  So  Abram  departed,  as  the  Loud  had  spoken  unto  him,  and 
Lot  went  with  him :  and  Abram  was  seventy  and  five  years  old 
when  he  departed  out  of  Haran. 


against  enemies  of  the  church  and  j 
kingdom,  of  Christ.  The  church  is 
God's.  Her  enemies  are  His.  Her 
friends  are  His  also,  and  no  weapon 
that  is  formed  against  her  shall  pros- 
per, for  He  who  has  all  power  given 
unto  Him  shall  be  with  her  faithful 
servants,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
If  And  in  thee,  etc.  This  is  Messian- 
ic. It  looks  to  the  world-wide  bene- 
fits of  redemption,  which  should 
come  through  Christ,  the  seed  of 
Abram.  In  ch.  18  :  18,  the  lan- 
guage is,  "  All  nations  of  the  earth," 
— and  there  also  the  promise  is  based 
upon  Abram's  known  fidelity  as  a 
parent,  and  honor  is  thus  to  be  put 
upon  the  household  covenant.  "  For 
I  know  him  that  he  will  command 
his  children  and  his  household  after 
him."  In  ch.  22  :  18,  the  same  cove- 
nant promise  is  repeated,  where  it 
reads,  "  And  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed,"  and 
here  it  is  based  upon  Abram's  fidel- 
ity to  God  in  the  offering  of  his  son 
Isaac — "because  thou  hast  obeyed 
my  voice."  God's  household  cove- 
nant is  gracious  and  precious — in 
compassing  the  children  of  believers 
with  the  arms  of  His  covenant  love. 
But  it  requires  parental  fidelity  in 
training  the  children,  (ch.  18  :  19,) 
and  that  fidelity  is  evinced  in  yield- 
ing up  our  children  at  God's  call,  an 
offering  and  sacrifice  to  His  service, 
(ch.  22  :  12, 16.)  «fi  All  families.  God 
pleases  to  propagate  His  church  by 
means  of  a  pious  posterity.  He 
blesses  the  world  in  families,  and 
through  a  family  :  and  God  is  God 
to  us  in  a  fatherly  relation,  as  the 
God  and  Father  of  His  only  begotten 
Son.  And  we  are  admitted  to  be 
sons  of  God,  and  members  of  His 
household  by  virtue  of  the  Sonship 
of  Christ  Jesus. 

Note.  —  (1.)  The  covenant  with 
Abram  is  the  covenant  of  grace,  like 
that  with  Adam  and  with  Noah,  only 

10* 


now    more    expressly     and  plainly 
looks  to  the  inclusion  of  all  nations 
and  people  in  the  benefits  of  Christ's 
salvation,    (Gen.    3  :  15  ;    6  :  18,    19  ; 
9  :  8.)    The  gospel  was  designed  from 
the  beginning  to  go  abroad  to  all 
the  families  of  man,  (1  John  1  : 1  ; 
3  : 8.)     The  bn»o$  of  lineal  descent 
from  Abram,  which  made  the  Jews 
so  bigoted  and  exclusive  has  no  war- 
rant in  a  right  understanding  of  the 
Abrahamic  call  and  covenant,  and  so 
Jesus    protested    to  the    Pharisees. 
The  apostle  Paul  expounds  the  prom- 
ise, (see  Gal.  3  :  16,)  showing  (1.)  that 
by  its  express  terms,  it  was  made  to 
extend  to  the  Gentiles,  (vs.  14,)  and 
(2.)  that  by  the  term  "  seed  "  is  meant 
Christ  Jesus.     "  He  saith  not,  '  And 
to  seeds,'  as  of  many,  but  as  of  one, 
and  to  thy  seed,  which  is  Christ." 
Though  the  person  of  Christ  is  not 
yet  clearly  pointed  out,  and  no  men- 
tion is  made  of  the  God-man,  yet 
the  general  terms  of  the  first  prom- 
ise are  constantly  narrowed.     And 
here,   instead  of  "the   seed   of  the 
woman,"  it  is  "  the  seed  of  Abram." 
Abram  must  have  seen  that  the  bles- 
sing to  come  through  him,  and  his 
seed  upon  the  Gentiles  must  be  spir- 
itual blessings  ;  for  some  of  the  na- 
i  tions  were  to  be  driven  out  of  the 
j  land  of  promise  by  him  and  his,  and 
all  their  own  blessings  were  known 
|  to  be  connected  with  the  mainten- 
i  ance   of   the   true   religion.     Christ 
|  Himself  declares  that   "  Abram  re- 
l  joiced  to  see  (that  he  should  see)  His 
i  day.    He  saw  it  and  was  glad,"  (John 
i  8  :  56.)      And    Peter    explains    the 
|  promise,  as  referring  to  the  sending 
j  of  Jesus,  (Acts  3  :  25,  26.)    And  Paul 
I  declares  that  God  in   this   promise 
preached  the  gospel  unto  Abrain  be- 
forehand, (Gal.  3  : 8-16.) 

(2.)  Jesus  embarks  in  the  same 
vessel  with  His  disciples,  who  need 
not  fear  any  storm  upon  the  seas, 
(Luke  8  :  22-24.) 


226 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2020 


5  And  Abram  took  Sarai  his  wife,  and  Lot  his  brother's  son, 
and  all  their  substance  that  they  had  gathered,  and  S  the  souls 
that  they  had  gotten  h  in  Haran  ;  and  they  went  forth  to  go  into 
the  land  of  Canaan  ;  and  into  the  land  of  Canaan  they  came. 

g  ch.  14  :  14.    h  ch.  11  :  31. 


(3.)  The  promise  of  the  earthly 
Canaan  and  of  temporal  blessings 
through  Abram,  was  designed  as 
typical  of  higher  and  spiritual  real- 
ities— of  the  better  country,  that  is, 
an  heavenly — the  heavenly  inherit- 
ance, (Heb.  11 :  16.)  The  external  is 
the  symbol  of  the  internal — the  mate- 
rial of  the  spiritual.  And  so  God  edu- 
cates us — giving  us  the  tangible  and 
visible,  to  lead  us  along  to  the  better 
things  and  more  real,  which  are  un- 
seen and  eternal.  And  so,  all  along, 
fulfilled  promise  ana  prophecy  in  re- 
gard to  what  is  more  immediate  and 
temporal  is  meant  to  encourage  our 
expectancy  of  the  more  glorious 
things  to  come. 

(4.)  This  is  the  record  of  Abram's 
overcoming  faith.  Paul  makes  the 
record  (Gr.,)  "  By  faith  Abram  when 
he  was  called  to  go  out  unto  the 
place  which  he  was  about  to  receive 
for  an  inheritance,  obeyed,  and  he 
went  out  not  knowing  whither  he 
comes.  By  faith  he  sojourned  unto 
the  land  of  the  promise  as  a  strange 
country,  dwelling  in  tents  with  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  the  fellow-heirs  with  him 
of  the  same  promise — for  he  looked 
for  (expected)  the  city  having  the 
foundations,  whose  architect  and 
master-builder  is  God,"  ( Eeb. 
11:8-19.)  Paul,  in  addressing  the 
Hebrew  converts,  to  fortify  them 
against  deserting  the  Christian  faith 
presses  on  their  attention  this  case 
of  their  ancestor  Abraham,  that  they 
be  followers  of  him  in  faith  and 
patience.  God  confirmed  to  him  the 
promise  by  an  oath,  and  so  after  he 
had  patiently  endured  he  obtained 
the  promise.  The  power  of  his  faith 
appears  in  this  that  it  was  a  prom- 
ise which  could  be  fulfilled  in  regard 
to  all  nations,  only  after  his  death — 
and  his    faith   reached   the  utmost 


issues  in  the  long  futurity,  (Heb. 
11 :  12-16.)  If  And  Lot  went  with  him. 
Lot  was  Abram's  brother's  son,  (see 
vs.  5,)  that  is,  the  son  of  Haran. 
Kurtz  understands  that,  "God  had 
not  intended  that  Lot  should  join 
Abram  on  his  journey.  This  (he 
says)  is  sufficiently  manifest  from 
his  later  history.  But  God  allowed 
it,  probably,  from  condescension  to 
Abraham's  attachment  to  his  fam- 
ily." It  would  be  more  strictly 
proper  to  say  that  as  the  narrative 
presents  it,  Lot  joined  the  company 
of  his  own  prompting,  and  not  by 
the  Divine  command,  as  in  case  of 
Abram.  It  was,  therefore,  upon  his 
own  responsibility.  ^[  Seventy  and 
five  years  old.  Abram's  age  is  now 
stated  at  this  second  stage  of  the  ex- 
pedition. Supposing,  according  to 
the  previous  calculation,  that  he  was 
at,  or  about,  seventy  years  old  at  the 
call  from  Ur,  there  would  be  an  in- 
terval of  five  years  at  Haran,  where 
Terah's  death  meanwhile  occurred, 
(ch.  11  :  81,  notes.)  «[  When  he  de- 
parted.   Heb. — In  his  going  out. 

5.  Abram  took.  Abram  now  leads 
the  expedition,  as  Terah  had  done 
at  the  outstart  as  the  father  of  the 
family.  The  relation  of  Sarai  to 
Abram  is  here  given,  as  well  as  that 
of  Lot.  °J  All  their  substance.  Heb., 
All  their  gain  which  they  had  gained 
— as  sheep  and  goods.  This  includes 
all  their  substance,  whether  brought 
from  Ur,  or  acquired  in  Haran. 
"ff  And  all  the  souls.  Heb.,  And  the 
soul  which  they  did,  (or  made.)  Ncj)h* 
esh,  here  used,  denotes  collectively 
the  per  sans  (servants)  taken  with 
them  from  Haran — as  in  Ezek.  27  :  I'd 
The  Sept.  renders  it,  nacav  tpvxvi', 
every  said  The  verb  to  do,  or  make, 
here  used  is  rendered  by  the  Sept., 
enTTjcmvro,  acquired — as  30 :  80  ;  Deut 


B.  C.  2020.] 


CHAPTER  XII. 


227 


0  %  And  Abram  1  passed  through  the  land  unto  the  place  ot 
Sichem,  k  unto  the  plain  of  Moreh.  ]  And  the  Canaanite  was 
then  in  the  land. 


Heb.  11:9.    k  Dent.  11:  30;  Judg.  7:  1.    1  ch.  10:  18,  19  ;  13:  7. 


8  :  17  ;  Gen.  1  :  12.  The  Ghald.  ren- 
ders, "  All  the  souls  he  had  subdued 
unto  the  law."  Some  understg^.'! 
it,  therefore,  of  proselyte  made  to 
the  true  religion  from  among  the 
heathen  at  Haran.  But  the  general 
understanding  which  best  suits  the 
context  is  of  bond-servants,  which 
Abram  had  acquired.  These  were 
gotten  commonly  by  conquest,  or  by 
money.  Here  it  seems  to  be  the 
latter.  Servants  were  needed  in 
proportion  to  the  increase  of  his 
flocks,  and  the  Lord  was  already 
making  him  great,  as  promptly  as 
his  obedience  was  rendered  to  the 
Divine  command.  Jacob  became 
quite  rich  in  six  years,  (ch.  30  :  43.) 
Abram  is  enriched  in  five  years. 
True  prosperity  is  found  in  the  path 
of  God's  commandments,  ^f  And 
they  went  forth  to  go — and  they  came. 
This  is  the  record  of  their  successful 
;ourney,  that  as  they  went  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  Divine  direction  with  a 
purpose  to  follow  the  Divine  leading, 
so  they  came  to  the  land  of  the  prom- 
ise.    Ps.  1  :  3. 

6.  The  Sept.  omits  the  last  clause 
of  the  preceding  verse.  The  Vulg. 
and  Germ,  connect  it  with  this  vs.  as 
the  opening  clause.  "  And  when 
they  had  come  t»  the  land"  f[  And 
Abram  passed  through  the  land. 
Heb.,  And  Abram  passed  over  in  the 
land  to  a  place  Shechem.  This  may 
express  what  Paul  gives  us  in  other 
words,  "He  sojourned  in  (or  unto) 
the  land  of  promise  as  a  strange 
(land),  "  belonging  to  others — in  pos- 
session of  the  Canaanites  as  here 
mentioned.  *[\  The  place  of  Sichem. 
This  phrase  is  taken  by  some  as 
meaning  the  site  of  Shechem,  where 
it  was  afterwards  located — implying 
that  it  is  here  spoken  of  by  anticipa- 
tion, and  that  the  town  was  not  yet 
in  existence.     But  there  is  evidence 


to  the  contrary.  And  the  same  ex- 
pression id  used  where  it  does  not  so 
mean,  ch.  18  :  24  ;  19  :  12  ;  29  :  22.  It 
may  more  likely  mean  "town  or 
village  of  Shechem."  At  the  time 
of  Jacob's  arrival  here,  after  sojourn- 
ing in  Mesopotamia,  Shechem  was  a 
Hivite  city,  of  which  Hamor,  Shech- 
em's  father,  was  chief  man.  And  it 
was  at  this  time  that  Jacob  pur- 
chased from  him  "the  parcel  of 
ground  "  (of  the  field)  which  he  gave 
to  his  son  Joseph,  where  was  Jacob's 
well,  John  4 :  5  The  name  means 
"  shoulder"  or  "  ridge,"  and  describes 
its  location  as  the  water-shed,  from 
which  the  streams  divide  east  and 
west,  flowing  into  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  into  the  Jordan.  Instead 
of  Shechem,  the  son  of  Hamor, 
having  given  his  name  to  the  place, 
it  is  more  probable  that  he  took  his 
name  from  the  place.  For  the  name, 
if  first  given  to  the  city  in  Hamor's 
time,  would,  according  to  Oriental 
usage,  have  been  taken  from  the  fa- 
ther, rather  than  the  son.  Besides, 
the  situation  of  the  place  is  so  re- 
markable and  eligible,  that  it  would 
most  likely  have  been  occupied  by 
the  earliest  settlers  in  the  land. 
From  Sinjil,  an  easy  day's  ride  from 
Jerusalem,  we  came  to  a  ruin  named 
Shiloh,  in  about  an  hour.  And 
about  four  hours'  distance  from  this 
point  we  came  upon  Jacob's  well, 
a  mile  from  Shechem.  The  town, 
as  now  found,  lies  on  a  slope  be- 
tween Mount  Gerizim  and  Ebal. 
The  present  population  was  reported 
to  us  as  about  twelve  thousand. 
The  city  is  well  built — has  fine  ba- 
zaars. It  is  not  improbable  that  in 
our  Lord's  time  the  city  extended 
more  nearly  to  Jacob's  well.  We 
rode  on  our  horses  with  great  diffi- 
culty up  to  the  top  of  Mount  Geri- 
zim.     The    paths    are    filled    with 


323 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2020 


sharp  stones,  as  from  a  quarry.  The 
summit  is  eight  hundred  feet  above 
the  plain,  and  two  thousand  six 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea  level. 
The  scenery  is  extremely  beautiful, 
perhaps  unsurpassed  in  the  Holy 
Land.  Streamlets  gush  from  the 
mountain  side  along  your  winding 
path.  The  people  b*oast  of  eighty 
springs  of  water  in  and  around  the 
city.  Olive-yards  enrich  the  land- 
scape, and  the  rich  valley  spreading 
to  the  east  and  west  from  this  ridge 
connecting  Gerizim  with  Ebal,  and 
the  city  occupying  this  ridge,  or 
saddle,  in  the  narrow  gorge  not 
more  than  five  hundred  yards  across 
at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  is  al- 
together most  picturesque.  An  im- 
mense ruin  of  large  bevelled  stones 
crowns  the  summit  of  Gerizim,  which 
some  have  thought  to  be  the  ruin  of 
the  ancient  Samaritan  temple ;  but 
it  is  doubtless  more  modern — proba- 
bly dating  with  the  crusades.  The 
present  town  has  five  mosques,  two 
of  which,  according  to  a  united  tra- 
dition, were  originally  Christian 
churches.  And  here  the  few  Sa- 
maritans yet  making  their  head- 
quarters in  Shechem  offer  their  an- 
nual sacrifice  of  lambs  at  Passover 
time.  We  saw  the  man  who  recov- 
ered Bonar's  Bible  from  where  he  or 
McCheyne  dropped  it,  in  Jacob's 
well,  and  he  exulted  in  the  prospect 
that  the  sixty-eight  Samaritans  then 
left  would  soon  reach  seventy,  and 
then  he  said  they  would  be  the 
greatest  people  in  the  world.  Here 
they  show  a  very  ancient  copy  of  the 
Samaritan  Pentateuch  on  parch- 
ment leaves,  which  they  claim  to  be 
an  original.  In  the  New  Testament 
the  city  is  called  Sychar,  "  a  city  of 
Samaria,"  John  5  :  5.  The  modern 
name,  "  Nablous,"  is  a  corruption  of 
the  Greek  name  "Neapolis,"  mean- 
ing "neic  city."  The  name  Sychar 
some  take  to  be  a  name  of  reproach 
given  by  the  Jews  to  this  Samaritan 
town,  as  Shecher  means  a  lie.  But 
it  may  be  only  a  provincial  corrup- 
tion if  "  Shechem."  At  the  farther 
gate  of  the  city  we  were  met  by  fif- 


teen lepers — one  with  his  ncse  eaten 
off,  another  white  with  the  leprosy 
around  his  wrists.  They  proposed 
to  follow  us  to  our  place  of  encamp- 
ment outside  the  city,  and  demanded 
two  piastres  each  for  leaving  our 
company.  We  were  glad,  on  any 
terms,  to  get  rid  of  the  hideous  look- 
ing creatures.  ^[  Unto  the  plain  of 
Morch,  Dent.  11 :  30  ;  Judgos  7:1. 
This  may  rather  read,  To  an  oak  of 
Moreh,  named  from  its  owner  or 
planter,  as  some  suppose  ;  or  an  oak 
of  instruction — or  an  eminent  oak. 
the  Sept.— the  lofty  oak.  This  last 
reading  is  allowable,  and  is  favored 
by  the  passage,  ch.  35  :  1^,  where  is 
mention  of  "  the  oak  which  was  by 
Shechem,"  as  a  celebrated  oak  — 
probably  celebrated,  like  the  oak  that 
was  pointed  out  to  us  at  Mamre,  as 
Abram's  oak.  The  oak  was  a  com- 
mon landmark,  from  its  great  growth 
and  durability.  %  And  the  Canaa,v 
ite.  That  these  hostile  inhabitants 
occupied  the  land  at  the  time  of 
Abram's  entering  there,  is  ex- 
pressly mentioned,  for  this  fact  is 
important  for  the  sequel.  It  is  by 
no  means  implied  that  the  Canaan- 
ite  was  not  in  the  land  at  the  time 
of  Moses'  writing.  It  is  noted,  in 
reference  to  Abram's  time,  to  show 
that  here  was  the  great  obstacle  to 
his  occupancy,  and  the  great  chal- 
lenge to  his  faith,  that  though  it 
was  the  land  which  God  promised 
to  him,  yet  it  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  heathen,  who  would  violently 
dispute  his  possession  and  his  claim. 
"  The  difficulty  of  approach  to  the 
country  in  this  locality  accounts  for 
Abram  having  selected  it,  as  afford- 
ing a  particular  security  against 
sudden  invasions."  (Ritter)  Hence 
the  reference  here  to  the  Canaanites, 
against  whom  the  stranger  would  be 
most  anxious  to  be  secured.  The 
author  of  Genesis  evinces  in  this 
clause  his  knowledge  of  the  Canaan- 
ites, and  presupposes  their  nature 
and  character  to  be  Known  in  such 
a  way  as  a  late  writer  could  not  do. 
See  Num.  14 :  45. — See  H^iernick. 
Note. — This  first  halting  place  of 


B.  C.  2020.] 


CHAPTER  XII. 


229 


7  m  And  the  Lord  appeared  vmto  Abram,  and  said, n  Unto  thy 
seed  will  I  ^ive  this  land  :  and  there  Imilded  he  an  °  altar  unto 
the  Lord,  who  appeared  unto  him. 

8  And  he  removed  from  thence  unto  a  mountain  on  the  east 
of  Beth-el,  and  pitched  his  tent,  having  Beth-el  on  the  west,  and 
Hai  on  the  east:  and  there  he  builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord, 
and  P  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord. 


in  ch.  17:  1.     n  eh.  13:  15;   17 


Ps.  105  :  9-11.     o  ch.  13 :  4.     p  ch.  13:4. 


Abram  and  his  household  in  the 
land  of  promise  was  "  the  city  of  Sa- 
maria, called  Sychar,"  where  our 
Lord  sowed  the  early  seeds  of  His 
gospel  doctrine  in  His  conversation 
with  the  Samaritan  woman,  John 
4:5;  and  it  was  the  same  place  at 
which  Philip  first  preached,  in  the 
transition  of  the  Christian  church 
from  Jerusalem  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  Acts  7 :  5,  where  it  should  be 
rendered,  "  a  city  of  Samaria  " — the 
phrase  being  the  very  same  in  the 
Greek  as  in  John  4  :  5. 

7.  Here  God  fulfils  to  Abram  His 
promise  at  the  out  start — to  show  to 
him  the  land,  (vs.  1.)  "Jehovah 
appeared."  Here  this  phrase  first 
occurs.  We  know  not  in  what  way 
God  manifested  Himself  to  the  pa- 
triarch on  this  occasion.  It  was 
sometimes  done  by  a  vision,  and 
sometimes  by  a  dream.  It  was  in  a 
way  suitable  to  the  Divine  nature, 
and  to  the  object  in  view.  He  re- 
vealed Himself  to  the  consciousness 
of  Abram,  so  as  that  he  felt  himself 
to  be  addressed  by  God,  whether 
there  was  any  audible  voice  or  not. 
~God  can  act  with  or  without  means, 
as  He  pleases.  ^[  Unto  thy  seed. 
This  promise  was  to  be  fulfilled  to 
the  posterity  of  Abram,  and  not  in 
his  own  day.  This  was  the  trial  of 
his  faith.  Yet  here  was  the  pre- 
ciousness  of  the  household  covenant, 
looking  to  the  establishment  of  his 
family  in  the  land.  "  This  land"  it 
is,  and  not  another,  which  is  the 
land  of  promise.  Abram  is  thus  no- 
tified that  he  has  arrived  upon  the 
soil  to  which  God  had  called  him  to 
remove.    %  And  there  he  builded  an 


altar — in  token  of  his  faith  and  grati- 
tude, publicly  accepting  thus  God's 
grant  to  him,  and  openly  taking 
possession  of  it  in  the  name  of  his 
covenant  God  —  at  least  planting 
here  an  altar  to  God,  as  a  token  of 
the  proprietorship  and  tenure  of  the 
soil.  Shechem  became  one  of  the 
cities  of  the  refuge  under  the  law, 
Josh.  21  :  20,  21 ;  and  here  also  the 
law  was  renewedly  proclaimed  with 
blessings  from  Gerizim,  and  curses 
from  Ebal,  Deut.  27 :  12  ;  Josh.  8  :  33- 
35.  Here  also  Joshua  assembled 
the  people  before  his  death,  and 
counselled  them,  Josh.  24 : 1,  25. 
The  position  was  eminently  fit  for  a 
religious  centre ;  and  besides  this, 
these  patriarchal  associations  would 
give  sanctity  to  the  place. 

8.  East  of  Bethel.  Bethel  is  now 
known  as  Beitttn,  six  hours  and  a 
half  from  Nablous,  on  the  road  to 
Jerusalem.  It  stands  on  a  hill, 
where  are  ruins  of  a  town.  The 
name  means  "  house  of  God."  The 
origin  of  the  name  is  in  doubt.  It 
would  seem  to  have  been  already 
the  name  of  the  place  before  Abram's 
arrival,  though  some  suppose  it  is 
here  given  by  the  historian  as  the 
name  by  which  the  place  was  after- 
wards known.  From  ch.  28  :  19  Ja- 
cob seems  to  have  given  the  name 
to  the  spot  at  the  time  of  his  vision. 
The  particular  spot  where  that  vis- 
ion occurred  was  thus  distinguished 
from  the  name  of  the  city  which 
"  was  called  Luz  at  the  first."  It  may 
have  had  this  name  before  Abram's 
time,  as  a  trace  of  early  piety  in  the 
land.  And  so  again  it  is  re-named 
"  Bethel "  on  the  occasion  of  the  Di- 


230 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2017. 


9  And  Abram  journeyed,  q  going  on  still  toward  the  south. 

10  *[  And  there  was  r  a  famine  in  the  land:  and  Abram  s  went 
down  into  Egypt  to  sojourn  there  ;  for  the  famine  teas  *  grievous 
in  the  land. 

q  eh.  13:3.     r  eh.  20 :  1.     s  Ps.  105  :  13.    t  ch.  43  :  1. 


vine  blessing  received  by  Jacob  when 
returning    from    Padan-Aram,    (ch. 

35  :  14, 15.)  The  historian,  in  the  pas- 
sage before  us,  explains  the  locality 
by  names  existing  in  his  time,  as  if 
he  had  said  "  unto  the  mountain  east- 
ward of  what  is  now  known  as 
Bethel."  Jacob  may  have  so  named 
it,  in  commemoration  also  of  the 
fact  that  Abram  had  halted  here, 
and  had  built  an  altar  to  God.  The 
"  house  of  God  "  is  a  fitting  title  for 
any  such  consecrated  locality,  hal- 
lowed by  the  Divine  presence.  And 
so  we  call  the  sanctuary  by  the  same 
name.  ^[  Hal;  lit.,  the  Ai.  The 
place  is  named  Ai,  which  means  a 
heap  of  ruins;  and  the  " H"  is  pre- 
fixed, as  the  Hebrew  article,  "the." 
It  was  a  royal  city  of  Canaan. 
"  The  men  of  Bethel  and  Ai  are 
spoken  of,"  Ez.  2 :  28.  It  was  the 
second  city  taken  by  Israel  after  the 
passage  of  the  Jordan,  and  was  ut- 
terly destroyed,  Josh.  7  :  3,  4,  5,  etc. 
It  is  now  known  as  Tel  er  Rijmeh — 
the  mount  of  the  heap.  *[[  Builded 
an  altar.  Here  is  a  public  profes- 
sion of  the  patriarch's  faith  and 
piety.  As  in  the  family  of  Adam 
after  Enos'  birth,  (ch.  4 :  28,)  the 
practice  is  kept  up  of  public  wor- 
ship, calling  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  recognizing  His  covenant  love, 
and  invoking  His  blessing.  See  ch. 
13 :  4,  18.  He  calls  upon  the  Divine 
name  as  "  JeJtovah,"  acknowledging 
the  redemptive  character  and  claims 
of  God  before  his  household.  As 
yet  he  was  only  a  sojourner  in  the 
land,  moving  from  place  to  place, 
under  the  Divine  direction,  towards 
the  south.  But  hither  he  returned, 
after  his  temporary  exile  in  Egypt, 
on  account  of  the  famine,  ch.  13  :  3, 
4,  to  the  place  of  his  tent  and  the 


altar.  Though  nothing  is  here 
stated  of  sacrificial  offering,  yet  the 
building  of  an  altar  fairly  implies 
this. 

9.  Abram  had  not  yet  taken  up 
his  fixed  abode  in  the  land.  He 
was  moving  from  place  to  place  with 
his  flocks,  and  surveying  the  coun- 
try. Lit.,  He  pulled  up  (his  tent) 
going  and  pulling  up  southward. 
According  to  the  customs  of  no- 
madic life,  he  pitched  his  tents  from 
point  to  point,  as  the  cattle  needed 
change  of  pasture,  or  on  other  ac- 
counts, but  mainly  in  a  southerly 
direction,  perhaps  determined  by  the 
season.  Paul  notices  the  fact  — 
"  dwelling  in  tents  with  Isaac  and 
Jacob,  (Heb.  11 :  10.) 

§  32.  Famine— Abram  in  Egypt — 
Sarai  and  Pharaoh.  Ch.  12:10- 
20. 

10.  A  famine.  Here  the  patriarch 
meets  a  sore  trial  of  his  faith.  A 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  having 
removed  from  his  comfortable  home 
and  loving  kindred,  he  finds  himself 
in  the  midst  of  famine,  and  in  dan- 
ger of  starvation.  No  corn  trade  as 
yet  existed  between  these  countries. 
He  therefore  determined  to  leave  the 
land  of  promise  for  the  land  of 
Egypt,  lest  he  might  perish  of  want. 
We  do  not  read  of  any  Divine  di- 
rection authorizing  him  to  go,  and 
it  would  seem  to  have  been  at  the 
dictate  of  unbelief  rather  than  of 
faith.  And  this  may  have  led  to 
his  further  troubles  in  the  same  di- 
rection, where  he  resorted  to  a  car- 
nal device  to  shield  himself  from 
the  danger  of  losing  his  wife. 
Tf  Went  down  into  Egypt.  Egypt 
being  annually  watered  by  the  over 


B.  C.  2017.] 


CHAPTER  XII. 


231 


11  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  was  come  near  to  enter  into 
Egypt,  that  he  said  unto  Sara!  his  wife,  Behold  now,  I  know  that 
thou  art  u  a  fair  woman  to  look  upon  : 

12  Therefore  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  the  Egyptians  shall 
see  thee,  that  they  shall  say,  This  is  his  wife :  and  they  w  will 
kill  me,  but  they  will  save  thee  alive. 


u  vs.  14  ;  ch.  2G : 


ch.  20:  11  ;  2G :  7. 


flow  of  the  Nile,  and  not  depending 
on  rains  lor  the  crops,  was  the  great 
grain-growing  region,  and  corn 
could  be  found  there  when  famine 
prevailed  in  the  adjoining  country, 
ch.  42  : 1, 2.  ^[  To  sojourn  there.  His 
object  was  to  dwell  in  Egypt  tem- 
porarily, and  only  so  long  as  the 
famine  prevailed,  intending  to  re- 
turn after  that  to  the  land  of  prom- 
ise. ^[  Was  grievous.  Vulg.  and 
Sept.  read,  prevailed.  How  deso- 
late and  distressed  were  these  new 
circumstances  of  the  patriarch.  How 
full  of  anxieties  and  apprehensions 
lest  he  and  his  household  should 
perish  of  starvation.  But  the  Jeho- 
vah who  has  led  him  out  from  his 
own  land  and  kindred,  will  not 
leave  him  to  die  of  want. 

11.  Escaping  one  trouble  he  falls 
into  another.  The  temptation  of 
Satan  in  the  wilderness  was  prac- 
tised upon  the  patriarch,  as  it  was 
afterward  upon  the  Messiah  himself 
— taking  advantage  of  his  hunger. 
Did  he  forget  that  "man  shall  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every 
word  of  God?"  Alas,  Egypt  was 
not  the  land  that  his  covenant  God 
had  showed  him  ;  and  God,  his  God, 
could  command  the  stones  of  Judea, 
and  they  would  become  bread. 
Now,  therefore,  as  he  started  on  his 
own  counsel,  he  is  cast  upon  his 
own  further  device.  Plainly  he  is 
in  perplexity,  and  feels  that  he  is 
not  under  the  same  guardianship, 
nor  travelling  by  the  same  Divine 
warrant  as  before.  How  much  bet- 
ter to  trust  in  God  than  to  lean  to 
our  own  understanding.  How  se- 
cure Abram  might  have  been  under 
the  Divine  guaranty  and  guidance, 
that  all  that  he  needed  would  be 


supplied  to  him  in  the  land  of  prom- 
!  ise.    ^f  A  fair  woman.     Sept.,    Of 
i  fair  countenance ;   lit.,  beautiful  of 
'  aspect,   1    Sam.   17 :  42.      The  term 
signifies  brightness,  and  refers  prob- 
ably to    a    fair,   clear    complexion. 
Though    she    was    now    sixty-five 
years  old,  yet  this  was  only  as  about 
'.  twenty-five   or   thirty  in   our  day ; 
and  she  had  not  had  even  the  com- 
mon hardships  of  married  life  ;   and 
besides,    she    was    of    a    character 
which  would  shine  out  in  the  coun- 
tenance, full  of  energy  and  vivacity. 
Sarah's  beauty  was  now  the  ground 
of  Abram' s  fear  among  such  stran- 
gers as  the  Egyptians,  speaking  a 
different  tongue,  and  having  a  pow- 
erful, despotic  monarch. 

12.  Abram's    fear    was    that    he 
should  lose  his  life  on  account  of  his 
;  wife's  attractions ;    that  the  Egyp- 
tians would  put  him  out  of  the  way 
1  in  order  to  seeure  her.     His  appre- 
hensions were   not  wholly  ground- 
!  less,  as  the  result  proved.     How  he 
came  to  have  this  special  fear  arous- 
j  ed   as  he   approached   the    country 
does  not  appear,  but  we  may  sup- 
j  pose    that  he   saw  much  of   these 
!  loose  habits  among  the  border  peo- 
|  pie,  indicating  to  him  what  might 
be  expected  as  he  advanced  into  the 
land.    His  carnal  policy  proves  weak- 
i  ness.     He  judged  that  if  they  found 
I  that  Sarah  was  bound  to  him  as  a 
wife,  he  might  lose  his  life  on  her 
account,  but  that  if  they  should  re- 
gard   her    as    only  his    sister,   the 
worst  that  could  happen  would  be 
|  her  disgrace  and  removal  from  him, 
without    sacrificing   himself.      This 
was  unmanly  and  cruel — it  was  in 
the  spirit   of  unbelief  and  worldly 
policy  —  unworthy  of  one  who  had 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2017. 


13  xSay,  I  pray  thee,  thou  art  my  sister  :  that  it  may  be  well 
with  me  for  thy  sake;  and  my  soul  shall  live  because  of  thee. 


xch.  20:  5,  13;   ch.  26 


so  specially  cast  himself  upon  the 
Divine  care  in  leaving  his  country 
and  kindred  to  follow  where  God 
led.  Yet  it  should  be  said,  on  his 
part,  that  he  might  have  more  spe- 
cially valued  his  life,  as  having  the 
promises  of  a  Messiah  connected  so 
with  his  person — himself  the  chan- 
nel and  conveyancer  of  blessings  to 
mankind.  His  j  udgment  was  found- 
ed on  the  idea  thai  though  the  king 
would  feel  free  (according  to  the 
custom  of  the  land)  to  take  an  un- 
married woman,  he  would  have  no 
other  resort,  upon  finding  her  to  be 
married,  than  to  take  the  life  of  her 
husband;  and  that  he  would  not 
scruple  to  do  this.  He  explains  his 
feeling  in  a  similar  peril,  ch.  20  :  11, 
"I  said,  Surely  the  fear  of  God  is 
not  in  this  place,  and  they  will  slay 
me  for  my  wife's  sake."  Alas,  it  is 
notorious  that  unbridled  lust  does 
not  stop  at  murder  to  gratify  its 
passions.  Pharaoh  blames  Abrarn 
for  leading  him  astray  by  this  device. 

Note. — It  is  here  that  Egypt  is 
first  brought  into  view  in  its  rela- 
tion to  the  land  of  promise.  And 
"there  is  here  a  foreshadowing  of 
the  relation  which  it  will  afterwards 
sustain  to  Abram's  descendants. 
The  same  necessity  conducts  both 
him  and  them  to  Egypt.  They 
both  encounter  similar  dangers  in 
that  land  —  the  same  mighty  arm 
delivers  both,  and  leads  them  back 
enriched  with  the  treasures  of  that 
wealthy  country.*' — Kurtz. 

13.  Say,  I  pray  thee.  This  is 
Abram's  device  for  self-security.  He 
would  have  her  tell  the  truth  only 
in  part,  It  is  plain  that  by  so  do- 
ing the  impression  sought  to  be  con- 
veyed would  be  different  from  that 
which  the  plain,  unflinching  truth 
would  have  given.  The  question 
arises  whether  we  are  bound  in  such 
circumstances  to  reveal  every  thing, 
ev«n  to  our  damage,  when  it  is  not 


positively  called  for.  If  he  was 
asked  whether  she  was  his  wife,  and 
replied,  No,  she  is  only  my  sister, 
there  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  falsi- 
ty. But  this  does  not  appear.  Pha- 
raoh blames  him  that  he  did  not  tell 
him  the  whole  truth,  but  that  he 
conveyed  a  wrong  impression,  which 
might  have  led  to  the  worst  results. 
And  doubtless  there  was  in  it — from 
our  Now  Testament  point  of  view — - 
the  element  of  untruth,  in  the  inten- 
tion to  deceive  by  the  concealment. 
Some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the 
partial  light  of  that  time  in  cases  o* 
casuistry.  See,  also,  the  case  of 
Moses,  Exod.  3 :  18,  and  of  David,  1 
Sam.  29  : 1-7.  Paul  had  surely  a 
right  to  dwell  upon  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  Pharisee,  as  an  expedient  to 
conciliate  his  audience.  It  was  only 
making  the  best  use,  for  that  occa- 
sion, of  what  was  the  truth  in  his 
case.  And  he  was  under  no  obliga- 
tion to  reveal  to  them,  then  and  there, 
other  facts  that  he  knew  would  be 
offensive  and  detrimental,  ( Acts 
23  :  6.)  It  may  fairly  be  laid  down 
that  a  lie  is  never  justifiable — and 
that  a  half-truth  seldom,  if  ever,  ac- 
complishes any  good  result.  The 
truest,  safest,  and  best  course  is  to 
trust  in  God  rather  than  in  a  shrewd 
worldly  policy,  and  cunning  diploma- 
cy.   *[  My  soul — myself— my  person* 

Observe.  —  ( 1. )  Pharaoh  blames 
Abram,  not  as  saying  that  Sarah 
was  not  his  wife,  but  for  not  telling 
him  that  she  was — and  for  saying 
that  she  was  his  sister — thus  convey- 
ing the  impression  that  she  was 
nothing  more. 

(2.)  Abram  pleads  in  his  vindica- 
tion in  after,  similar,  circumstances 
that  he  told  the  truth,  only  not  the 
whole  truth,  (ch.  20  :  12,  etc.) 

(3.)  Concealment  and  equivocation 
with  intent  to  deceive  can  never  be 
justified,  especially  in  the  light  of 
this  gospel  time 


B.  C.  2017.J 


CHAPTER  XII. 


14  1"  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  Abram  was  come  into 
Egypt,  the  Egyptians  y  beheld  the  woman  that  she  was  very  fair. 

15  The  princes  also  of  Pharaoh  saw  her  and  commended  her 
before  Pharaoh  :  and  the  woman  was  z  taken  into  Pharaoh's 
house. 

16  And  he  a  entreated  Abram  well  for  her  sake:  and  he  had 
sheep,  and  oxen,  and  he-asses,  and  men-servants,  and  maid-ser- 
vants, and  she-asses,  and  camels. 

1 7  And  the  Lord  b  plagued  Pharaoh  and  his  house"  with  great 
plagues  because  of  Sarai,  Abram's  wife. 


v  ch.  39  :  7  ;  Matt,  5  :  28. 
105:  14;  Heb  13:4. 


z  ch.  20  :  2.  a  ch.  20  :  14.  b  ch.  20  ;  18  ;  1  Chron.  16  :  21 ;  Pa. 


(4.)  All  this  shifting  and  shuffling 
resulted  from  unbelief — not  waiting 
for  the  Divine  direction  to  leave  the 
land  of  promise — and  doubting  God's 
ability  to  spread  a  table  in  the  wil- 
derness. This  was  also  the  fault  of 
his  descendants,  (Num.  11 :  14.) 

14.  Abram's  fears  were  realized  at  ] 
once,  so  far  as  the  admiration  of  the 
people  for  Sarah's  beauty  was  con- 
cerned. 

15.  Doubtless  Abram  had  feared, 
especially  those  in  authority,  know- 
ing the  despotism  of  an  Oriental 
court.  And  here  it  came  to  pass  as 
he  feared.  The  princes — courtiers — 
of  Pharaoh  saw  her,  and  praised  her 
to  Pharaoh.  This  fact  is  strikingly 
in  accordance  with  the  manner  of 
the  Egyptian  court,  and  shows  the 
author's  knowledge  of  Egyptian  cus- 
toms. The  formalities  were  most 
strict  and  rigorous.  "  No  slave  durst 
approach  the  consecrated  priestly 
person  of  the  Pharaohs,  but  the  court 
and  the  royal  suit  consisted  of  the 
sons  of  the  principal  priests." — Diod. 
Sic.,  1,  70.  They  extolled  her  beauty 
that  so  they  might  minister  to  the 
indulgence  of  the  king,  and  shew 
their  interest  in  his  carnal  gratifica- 
tion. And  upon  such  representa- 
tions of  her  charms  the  icoman  was 
taken,  to  Pharaoh's  house.  The 
Sept.  reads,  And  they  led  her  unto 
the  house  of  Pharaoh.  How  bitterly 
Abram  must  now  have  bewailed  the 
complications  into  which  he  had 
brought  hire  self.     True,  his  object 


was  so  far  accomplished  as  that  his 
life  was  spared ;  but  what  a  life 
when  bereft  now  of  his  wife  and 
made  to  think  only  of  the  threatened 
disgrace  and  ruin  which  stared  her 
and  himself  in  the  face  !  How  must 
he  have  grieved  to  see  her  led  away 
from  him  to  the  harem  of  the  Egypt- 
ian monarch,  from  whose  iron  will 
he  had  no  appeal ! 

16.  Entreated  Abram  well.  Lit., 
And  he  did  good  to  Abram  for  her 
sake.  What  followed  seems  to  be  a 
recital  of  these  material  benefits 
which  fell  to  his  lot  by  this  means. 
Tf  And  he  had.  Lit.,  And  there  were 
to  him — there  came  (or,  became,)  to 
him.  When  Abram  arrived  there 
Egypt  was  under  the  rule  of  the 
shepherd  kings,  whose  government 
had  its  capital  in  the  Delta,  or 
northerly  portion,  where  he  entered. 
These  presents  are  such  as  one  pas- 
toral chief  would  present  to  another, 
It  is  plain  that  only  such  presents 
must  have  been  made  to  Abram  as 
were  particularly  valuable  to  him  as 
a  nomade."  Mules  and  camels  ap- 
pear on  the  ancient  monuments  of 
Egypt.  But  all  these  princely  gifts 
could  not  appease  the  honest  grief  of 
such  an  one  as  Abram  for  the  shame- 
ful removal  from  him  of  his  beloved 
Sarah.  And  the  presents  he  durst 
not  refuse,  lest  he  perish. 

17.  Though  God's  servant  acted 
so  unworthily  of  his  antecedents 
and  his  mission,  yet  the  Divine  faith- 
fulness here  interposes  to  rescue  him 


234 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  201? 


18  And  Pharaoh  called  Abrara,  and  said,  c  What  is  this  that 
thou  hast  done  unto  me?  why  didst  thou  not  tell  me  that  she 
was  thy  wife  ? 

19  Why  saidst  thou,  She  is  my  sister?  so  I  might  have  taken 
her  to  me  to  wife :  now  therefore  behold  thy  wife,  take  her,  and 
go  thy  way. 

20  d  And  Pharaoh  commanded  his  men  concerning  him :  and 
they  sent  him  away,  and  his  wife,  and  all  that  he  had. 

cch.  20:9;  26:  10.    d  Prov.  21  : 1. 


upon 
The 


from  the  impending  ruin  which  lie 
was  bringing  on  himself.  Jehovah 
plagued  Pharaoh  and  his  house.  Heb., 
Beat  him  with  great  blows.  How 
this  infliction  was  visited 
Pharaoh  we  do  not  know. 
Lord  doubtless  showed  his  displeas- 
ure, and  taught  Pharaoh  that  he 
was  guilty  in  thus  taking  to  himself 
the  woman,  whether  wife  or  sister, 
at  his  own  arbitrary  will.  Just 
as  afterwards  the  court  of  Egypt 
was  visited  with  sore  plagues  from 
God  because  of  their  oppression  of 
Abram's  descendants,  until  the  stub- 
born despot  was  constrained  to  let 
them  go,  in  part,  so  here,  on  the 
same  principle.  God  has  agents  and 
modes  for  bringing  men  to  a  convic- 
tion of  their  sin,  and  Pharaoh  was 
made  to  feel  that  he  was  in  the 
wrong,  in  retaining  Sarah.  Doubt- 
less Abram  made  himself  known  as 
a  worshipper  of  the  true  God,  and 
God  was  caring  for  him,  though  far 
away  from  his  home,  and  though 
wandering  beyond  the  land  where 
He  had  led  him.  f[  And  his  house. 
God  builds  up  His  church  by  house- 
holds of  the  good,  and  so,  also,  He 
breaks  down  the  families  of  the 
wicked.  "He  visiteth  the  iniquity 
of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  of 
them  that  hate  Him,  and  sheweth 
mercy  unto  thousands  (families)  of 
them  that  love  him  and  keep  his 
commandments,"  (Exodus  20  :  6.) 
The  court  and  household  of  Pharaoh 
were  also  implicated  with  him  in  the 
sin.  And  the  habitation  of  the  wick- 
ed ehall  not  prosper. 


18.  Pharaoh  here  upbraids  Abram 
for  his  keeping  back  the  truth  in  re- 

{  gard  to  Sarah's  relations,  and  he  de- 
I  clares  it  to  be  an  injury  done  to  him 
|  that  he  had  not  told  him  that  Sarah 
j  was  his  wife.     He  does  not  charge 
I  Abram  with  having  told  a  falsehood 
— only  that  he  had  not  told  him  the 
whole  truth,  and  he  claims  that  he 
ought  to  have  told  him  this  impor- 
tant fact,  that  she  was  his  wife — that 
in  the  circumstances  he  had  a  right 
to  know  it. 

19.  The  complaint  of  Pharaoh  sets 
forth  the  case  in  its  true  light,  and 
shows  the  point  of  the  wrong  in 
Abram's  prevarication.  ^[  Why  saidst 
thou,  She  is  my  sister?  And  this 
was  precisely  pointing  to  the  wrong 
of  Abram's  device.  The  following 
clause  reveals  the  peril  into  which 
she  had  been  brought  by  the  very 
means  taken  by  Abram.  ^  So  1 
might.  Lit.,  And  I  took.  In  the 
Hebrew  such  a  dependent  clause 
often  carries  with  it  the  contingency 
based  on  the  foregoing  statement. 
'•  And  I  took "  would  only  express 
the  danger  he  was  in  of  so  taking 
her,  as  though  it  were  most  immi- 
nent. It  would  hence  appear  that 
he  did  not  actually  take  her  to  wife. 
The  ceremonies  of  Oriental  nuptials 
require  some  time,  and,  in  the  inter- 
val, it  would  seem,  God  plagued 
Pharaoh.  Pharaoh's  conduct  has 
the  appearance  of  frankness  and  hon- 
orable dealing.  But  his  loose  prin- 
ciples cannot  be  justified. 

20.  Pharaoh  now  gives  command- 
ment to  his  men — his  servants — offi- 
cials— who  could  be   charged  with 


B.  C.  2017.] 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


235 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

AND  Abram  went  up  out  of  Egypt,  he,  and  bis  wife,  and  all 
that  he  had,  and  Lot  with  him,  a  into  the  south. 
2  b  And  Abram  was  very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and  in  gold. 

a  ch.  12:9.    b  ch.  24  :  35  ;  Ps.  112  :  3  ;  Prov.  10  :  22. 

went  thither  for  a  temporary  pur- 
pose, and  returned  even  sooner,  as 
would  seem,  than  he  had  intended, 
ch.  20 :  12.  Egypt  is  a  type  of  the 
world-kingdom,  abounding  in  wealth 
and  power,  offering  temptations  to  a 
mere  carnal  sense.  But  Abram  had 
encountered  its  worldliness  and 
pride,  and  had  been  in  danger  of 
losing  his  personal  and  domestic 
peace,  and  was  glad,  doubtless,  to 
escape  from  the  land,  and  get  once 
more  within  the  boundaries  of  th^ 
land  of  promise.  a[  Went  up.  Th 
direction  of  Jerusalem  was  upwara 
from  every  quarter,  in  the  Jewish 
phraseology.  Besides,  the  south  of 
Judea  was  hill  country,  and  it  was 
upward  in  reference  to  the  low,  des- 
ert plains  of  the  Egyptian  territory. 
^[  Lot  with  him.  We  here  find  that 
Lot,  who  came  with  him  into  Pal- 
estine, had  accompanied  him  into 
Egypt,  and  now  returns  with  him. 
His  connexion  with  him  was  that  of 
natural  kindred.  It  will  soon  ap- 
pear that  Lot,  by  the  increase  of  his 
estate,  has  separate  interests,  and 
that  it  is  in  the  plan  of  God  to  dis- 
connect Abram,  His  chosen  friend, 
from  all  others  outside  his  own  im- 
mediate household,  with  whom  He 
was  to  covenant.  *[[  Into  the  south  ; 
lit.,  towards  the  south.  This  is  not 
the  south  of  Egypt,  for  he  went  up 
out  of  Egypt,  but  towards  the  coun- 
try called  the  south  —  the  south 
country  of  Palestine,  known  as  such 
before  the  time  of  Abram.  See  Josh. 
10  :  40  ;  11  :  16.  The  Sept.  reads, 
Unto  the  Desert  —  pointing  to  the 
same  region,  which  is  skirted  by  the 
Idumean  desert.  The  same  term  is 
used  here  as  in  ch.  12  :  9.  Hither  ho 
had  come  at  first. 
2.   Very  rich ;  lit.,  weighty  exceed- 


this  business.  ^[  And  they  sent  him 
away.  The  Sept.  reads,  To  send  him 
away — as  though  this  was  what  the 
men  were  commanded  to  do — to  send 
forth  Abram  and  his  household  from 
the  country.  The  term  implies  an 
honorable  escort,  for  his  safe  depart- 
ure from  Egypt  with  all  that  he  had 
— cattle,  goods,  etc.,  (vs.  16.)  Thus 
Abram,  by  a  strange  discipline,  is 
brought  back  to  the  land  of  prom- 
ise, reprovea  for  thus  hastily  leaving 
the  land  that  God  shewed  him,  in 
order  to  escape  famine,  and  for  for- 
saking his  confidence  in  God  by  re- 
sorting to  worldly  policy  for  his  pro- 
tection in  danger.  Thus  God  reclaims 
His  own  people  from  their  wander- 
ings, and  does  it  through  sore  trials 
and  severe  discipline,  bringing  them 
back  to  the  goodly  land  of  His  prom- 
ise and  their  inheritance — taught 
that  the  only  safety  is  to  follow 
where  God  leads,  and  fully  to  trust 
in  Him  for  ourselves  and  our  house- 
holds. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

§  33.  Return  to  Canaan— Abram 
and  Lot  Separate  —  Siddim  — 
Mamre.    Ch.  13. 

In  Egypt  the  church — the  chosen 
people — was  introduced  to  the  world. 
Egypt  was  to  Abram,  to  the  Jewish 
people  also,  to  the  whole  course  of 
the  Old  Testament,  what  the  world, 
with  all  its  interests  and  pursuits 
and  enjoyments,  is  to  us.  But  while 
Egypt,  with  its  pride  of  wealth  and 
art  and  power,  its  temples  and  pyra- 
mids, is  almost  forgotten,  the  name 
of  the  shepherd  patriarch  lives. 
How  long  Abram  remained  in  Egypt 
at  this  time  does  not  appear.     He 


236  GENESIS.  [B.  C.  2017 

3  And  he  went  on  his  journey  c  from  the  south  even  to  Beth- 
el, unto  the  place  where  his  tent  had  been  at  the  beginning,  be- 
tween Beth-el  and  Hai ; 

4  Unto  the  d  place  of  the  altar,  which  he  had  made  there  at 
the  first :  and  there  Abram  e  called  on  the  name  of  the  Lord. 


cch.  21:8,9.    dch.  12  :  T,  8.    e  Ps.  116  :  IT. 


ingly.  Having  amassed  great  riches. 
He  was  a  chief,  or  sheikh,  of  a  tribe  of 
his  attendants  and  dependents.  His 
wealth  is  mentioned  here  in  proof  of 
God's  "blessing*  upon  him,  according 
to  the  promise — enriching  his  tem- 
poral estate.  Oriental  chiefs  had 
their  riches  chiefly  in  flocks.  Abram 
may  have  acquired  his  silver  and  gold 
in  Egypt  by  trading  with  the  people. 
Sheep  and  camels,  oxen  and  asses 
constituted  the  wealth  of  Job  (Job. 
1  :  3,)  who  belonged  to  the  time  of 
Moses ;  and  these  are  given  as  the 
items  of  Abram's  wealth  when  he 
went  down  into  Egypt,  ch.  12 :  16. 
The  precious  metals  had  been  added, 
no  doubt,  by  sales  of  animals,  and 
their  products  of  milk,  butter,  cheese, 
etc.,  to  the  people. 

3.  On  Ids  journey,  etc.  And  he 
went  according  to  Ms  remomngs — 
that  is,  pitching  his  tents,  and  strik- 
ing them,  and  going  on  from  place 
to  place — "  sojourning  " — "  dwelling 
in  tents."  The  Sept.  reads,  He  went 
whence  he  came.  The  "V  ulg.,  He  re- 
turned by  the  way  whence  he  came. 
1[  Unto  'the  place,  ch.  12:8.  The 
narrative  is  careful  to  mention  that 
he  went  directly  to  Bethel,  where 
he  had  at  the  beginning  pitched  his 
tent  and  builded  an  altar  to  God, 
(vs.  4.)  His  heart,  doubtless,  yearn- 
ed for  his  first  love  in  that  land  of 
promise,  and  he  longed  to  get  back 
to  the  sweet  memorial  places,  where 
he  had  indeed  met  God.  ^[  Between 
Bethel  and  Hai.  Stanley  well  de- 
scribes this  point  as  "  a  conspicuous 
hill,  its  topmost  summit  resting  on 
the  rocky  slopes  below,  and  distin- 
guished by  its  olive  groves,  offering 
a  natural  base  for  the  altar,  and  a 
fitting  shade  for  the  tent  of  the  pa- 
triarch." 


4.  Tent  and  altar  were  now  in  his 
mind  as  he  had  enjoyed  them  at 
first.  We  remember  our  sweet 
home  and  our  sweet  church  after 
we  have  roamed  in  a  land  of  exile. 
We  yearn  to  get  back  to  where  we 
have  enjoyed  the  dear  circle  of  our 
family,  and  that  of  our  Christian 
brethren — where  we  have  lived,  and 
where  we  have  worshipped.  Be- 
cause it  was  Bethel,  he  loved  it, 
even  as  the  house  of  God,  Ps.  84 : 1, 2. 
Shechem  had  been  the  place  of  his 
altar  at  the  very  first.  But  as  to  the 
spot  between  Bethel  and  Hai,  and 
the  altar  erected  there,  the  same 
phrase  is  used  as  here,  "He  called 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord"  see 
ch.  12 : 7,  8,  which  may  express  a 
more  formal  and  public  worship. 
Or  he  may  have  reached  Shechem,  a 
few  miles  further  on,  at  this  time, 
■jf  Galled.  This  phrase  refers  to  the 
pious  invocation  of  God,  as  "the 
Lord" — Jehovah.  Here,  on  the  sa- 
cred spot  so  endeared  to  him  by  his 
earliest  memories  of  God's  covenant 
promise  fulfilled,  in  showing  him 
the  land  of  promise,  the  patriarch 
reestablishes  public  worship.  It  is 
the  sanctuary  of  God,  on  God's  own 
land,  where  He  had  already  first  re- 
vealed Himself  to  him  on  the  cove- 
nant soil.  Doubtless,  "  he  felt  a 
strong  desire  to  reanimate  his  faith 
and  piety  amidst  the  scenes  of  his 
former  worship — it  might  be  to  ex- 
press humility  and  penitence  for  his 
misconduct  in  Egypt,  or  thankful- 
ness for  deliverance  from  perils — to 
embrace  the  first  opportunity,  on  re- 
turning to  Canaan,  of  leading  his 
family  to  renew  allegiance  to  God, 
and  to  offer  the  typical  sacrifices 
which  pointed  to  the  blessings  of 
the  promise." — Jamieson. 


B.  C.  2017.] 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


237 


5  «[  And  Lot  also,  which  went  with  Abram,  had  flocks,  and 
herds,  and  tents. 

G  And  f  the  land  was  not  able  to  bear  them,  that  they  might 
dwell  together:  for  their  substance  was  great,  so  that  they  could 
not  dwell  together. 

7  And  there  was  S  a  strife  between  the  herdmen  of  Abram's 
cattle  and  the  herdmen  of  Lot's  cattle:  h  and  the  Canaanite  and 
the  Perizzite  dwelt  then  in  the  land. 


f  ch.  36  :  7.     g  ch.  26  :  20.    h  ch.  12  :  6. 


5.  And  Lot  also.  Abram's  char- 
acter is  now  to  shine  in  his  noble, 
honorable  dealing  with  his  relative, 
the  companion  of  his  journey.  Lit., 
To  Lot,  also,  w7w  went  with  Abram, 
there  tcere  flocks,  etc.  This  may  be 
mentioned  here  to  show  how  those 
who  cast  in  their  temporal  lot  with 
Abram,  God's  friend,  were  blessed 
for  his  sake.  The  blessing  upon 
Abram  overran  and  flowed  over 
upon  Lot.  So  God  often  showers 
His  blessings  upon  the  household, 
neighbors  and  dependents  of  the 
righteous  for  their  sakes.  ^[  Tents. 
This  probably  includes  the  occu- 
pants— meaning  servants  and  atten- 
dants. 

6.  And  the  land  ;  lit.,  did  not  bear 
them,  to  dwell  together  (for  dwell- 
.  ng  together.)  Sept.,  And  the  land 
did  not  contain  them  to  dwell  together. 
And  the  reason  is  given.  For  their 
siibstance  (acquisition)  was  great,  and 
they  were  not  able  to  dwell  together. 
That  choice  portion  of  the  land 
where  they  had  at  first  located,  on 
account  of  its  richness  and  natural 
security,  was  now  too  small  for  their 
largely  increased  households  and 
possessions.  {See  ch.  12 :  6,  Notes.) 
Probably  their  cattle  and  flocks  now 
numbered  too  many  to  be  accommo- 
dated by  the  pasturage.  The  coun- 
try was  an  open  common.  It  could 
not  be  held  by  any  title.  Every 
one  drove  his  cattle  where  he  could 
find  the  best  grazing  for  them. 
This  absence  of  law  to  define  and 
protect  real  estates  would  naturally 
open  the  way  for  jealousy  and  strife, 


and  the  strong  would  have  an  ad- 
vantage over  the  weak. 

7.  A  strife,  etc.  The  connexion 
indicates  the  ground  of  the  strife, 
though  it  is  not  distinctly  stated. 
The  choice  district  which  they  had 
selected  became  too  narrow  for  the 
accommodation  of  both,  with  their 
large  increase.  So  it  is  that  secular 
prosperity  often  brings  trouble.  The 
meek  it  is  who  shall  t*uly  inherit 
the  earth,  (Matt.  5 :  5.)  It  was  the 
herdmen  of  the  respective  flocks 
who  quarrelled.  They  were  tempt- 
ed to  encroach  one  upon  the  other, 
to  find  proper  sustenance  for  their 
cattle.  ^  And  the  Canaanite,  etc. 
As  before  noted,  this  clause  does  not 
indicate  that  the  historian  lived 
subsequently  to  Moses'  time.  He 
does  not  say,  "  And  the  Canaanite 
was  yet  in  the  land  at  that  time," 
but  it  is  said,  with  reference  to  the 
promise  that  God  would  give  this 
land  to  the  seed  of  Abram,  that 
the  land  was  not  tenantless  and  un- 
possessed, so  that  Abram  had  only 
to  take  possession,  and  enter  on  its 
enjoyment.  But  the  Canaanite  was 
there  as  its  occupant,  standing  in 
the  way  of  the  promised  possession, 
and  needing  to  be  removed,  so  that 
meanwhile  he  could  only  dwell  in 
tents,  a  pilgrim  in  the  land  of  prom- 
ise, as  in  a  strange  country.  See 
Delitzsch.  *]  And  the  Perizzite.  It 
is  intimated  by  this  note  that  these 
aborigines  made  the  choice  district 
where  they  dwelt  all  the  more 
cramped  and  inadequate  for  Abram 
and  Lot.     The  presence  of  two  pow 


238 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2017. 


8  And  Abram  said  unto  Lot,  *  Let  there  be  no  strife,  T  pray 
thee,  between  me  and  thee,  and  between  my  herdmen  and  thy 
herdmen;  for  we  be  brethren. 

9  k Is  not  the  whole  land  before  thee?  Separate  thyself,  I 
pray  thee,  from  me  :  1  if  thou  wilt  take  the  left  hand,  then  I  will 
go  to  the  right ;  or  if  thou  depart  to  the  right  hand,  then  I  will 
go  to  the  left. 

i  1  Cor.  6  :  7.    k  ch.  20  :  15  ;  34  :  10.    1  Rom.  12  :  18  ;  Heb.  12  :  14-;  Jas.  3  :  IT. 


erful  tribes,  at  peace  with  each  other, 
was  favorable  to  the  quiet  and  peace- 
able residence  of  Abram  and  Lot, 
but  surely  not  to  their  living  at  va- 
riance with  each  other.  The  Periz- 
zites  are  not  named  in  the  table  of 
nations  (ch.  10)  and  their  origin  is 
hid.  The  name  indicates  perhaps 
that  they  were  peasants,  engaged  in 
agriculture,  or  nomades,  wanderers. 
They  are  mentioned  along  with  the 
Canaanites  as  original  occupants  of 
the  soil.  See  ch.  15:20;  34:30; 
Exod.  3  :  8,  17  ;  Judg.  1 :  4,  5  ;  Josh. 
17  :  15-18.  They  dwelt  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Judah  and  Ephraim,  and 
they  are  noticed  as  late  as  in  the 
time  of  Ezra,  (9:1.)  Some  under- 
stand that  the  Perizzites  are  the 
same  with  the  Hittites  —  sons  of 
Heth — who  are  called  "  the  children 
of  the  land" — which  is  called  also 
"  the  land  of  Heth,"  ch.  23  :  7. 

8.  The  strife  among  the  herdsmen 
does  not  alienate  the  masters. 
Abram  stands  upon  his  faith.  **[  Let 
there  be  no  strife.  "  So  the  father  of 
the  faithful  replied  in  language  that 
might  well  extend  beyond  the  strife 
of  herdsmen  and  shepherds  to  the 
strife  of  "pastors  and  teachers,"  in 
many  a  church  and  nation." — Stan- 
leg.  He  who  has  the  promises  can 
well  afford  to  yield  a  point  of  differ- 
ence for  the  holy  sake  of  peace. 
And  he  it  is  who  is  the  gainer  by  all 
he  seems  to  concede.  "  The  meek 
(and  only  they)  inherit  the  earth." 
"  He  walks  in  the  moral  atmosphere 
of  the  sermon  on  the  mount,"  Matt. 
C  :  28,  etc.  Abram  appeals  to  their 
brotherly  relations  against  any  strife 
between  themselves  or  their  herds- 
men.   For  we  (are)  men,  brethren — 


men  who  are  brethren.  The  same 
Hebraistic  expression  is  used  in  the 
New  Testament  by  James  at  the 
Synod  in  Jerusalem — "  Men,  breth- 
ren," Acts  15 :  13,  and  by  Paul  in 
his  address,  Acts  23  :  1.  This  refer- 
red to  national  brotherhood.  Abram 
was  Lot's  kinsman,  being  both  his 
brother-in-law  and  his  uncle ;  and 
beyond  this,  they  were  "brethren" 
in  their  religion.  Even  the  fact  that 
tbey  were  of  national  brotherhood 
in  a  strange  country  ought  to  be  a 
strong  restraint  upon  quarrelsome 
passions.  Abram  lays  upon  Lot 
the  necessity  of  accepting  his  offer, 
as  he  yielded  to  him  the  choice  of 
the  land.  Besides,  Lot  is  the  com- 
panion, and  his  uncle  is  the  princi- 
pal. How  far  may  Christian  men 
stand  upon  their  rights  ?  And  how 
far  are  they  bound  to  yield  even  to 
unreasonable  demands  for  the  sake 
of  peace.  The  spirit  of  the  Master 
will  rather  suffer  wrong  than  do 
wrong.  He  who  has  the  promises 
may  be  sure  that  his  covenant  God 
will  beo*  him  out  in  personal  con- 
cessions iw  the  sake  of  peace. 

9.  Abram  proposes  most  generous 
terms.  He  offers  Lot  the  first  choice, 
though  he  be  the  inferior  party,  and 
in  the  true  Christian  spirit  which, 
"  in  lowliness  of  mind,  esteems  other 
better  than  himself,"  as  well  as  in 
the  spirit  of  the  commandment  to 
"love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves." 
Abram  now  appears  in  his  personal 
graces,  and  shines  in  his  relations  to 
those  around  him,  as  a  bright  exam- 
ple to  all.  %  Is  not  tJie  ichole  land 
before  thee?  This  was  the  land 
promised  to  Abram  by  God  himself, 
of   which,    therefore,   he    was    the 


B.  C.  2017.] 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


10  And  Lot  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  beheld  all  mthe  plain  ot 
Jordan,  that  it  was  well  watered  everywhere,  before  the  Lord 
n  destroyed  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  °  ev.en  as  the  garden  of  the 
Lord,  like  the  land  of  Egypt,  as  thou  comest  unto  PZoar. 


m  ch.  19  :  IT;  Deut.  34: 
14  :  2,  S  ;  19  :  22. 


3 ;  Ps.  107  :  34.    n  ch.  19  :  24,  25.    o  ch.  2  :  10 ;  Isa.  51 :  3.    p  ch. 


rightful  proprietor,  and  not  his 
nephew.  He  could  have  claimed 
the  exclusive  possession  on  the  high 
ground  of  the  Divine  promise  and 
plan.  He  could  have  said,  "If  the 
land  is  not  large  enough  for  us  both, 
then  you  must  seek  another  coun- 
try, or  even  return  to  the  land 
whence  you  came  out."  But  this 
exclusiveness  is  not  the  spirit  of  our 
holy  religion.  We  cannot  assume 
to  stand  upon  our  Divine  right,  and 
claim  all  the  privileges  and  prom- 
ises, leaving  no  room  for  others,  nor 
giving  them  over  to  uncovenanted 
mercies.  In  the  true  spirit  of  grace, 
we  are  to  be  gracious  and  concilia- 
tory, and  peace-making,  for  we  be 
brethren.  Nor  need  we  all  seek  to 
occupy  the  very  same  ground,  nor 
claim  the  same  territory.  There  is 
room  enough  for  all  names  and 
claims  that  are  truly  Christian. 
There  is  much  land  to  be  possessed, 
and  God  has  a  field  for  all  denomi- 
nations to  cultivate.  *fi  Separate 
thyself.  In  the  spirit  of  generous 
concession,  and  not  of  severity, 
Abram  proposes  a  separation,  and 
agrees  to  take  what  Lot  leaves. 
"If  to  the  left,  then  I  will  go  to  the 
right,  or  if  to  the  right,  then  I  will  go 
to  the  left."  Abram's  movement  was 
to  be  regulated  by  Lot's  choice. 

10.  Lot  accepts  the  offer,  but  not 
as  would  seem  in  the  same  humble 
spirit  in  which  it  was  made.  They 
"  agree  to  differ."  This  remarkable 
place,  where  Abram's  tent  had  been 
previously  pitched,  proves  the  turn- 
ing point  in  the  patriarch's  life. 
Those  who  have  been  close  compan- 
ions up  to  this  point  are  henceforth 
parted  asunder  "  This  first  prime- 
val pastoral  controversy  divided  the 
patriarchal  church."  'Stanley  cites 
here  the  passage  of  similar  purport, 


(ch.  26 :  19-22)  in  Isaac's  history. 
"  Isaac's  servants  digged  in  the  val 
ley,  and  found  there  a  well  of  spring 
ing  water  ;  and  the  herdsmen  of  Ge 
rar  did  strive  with  Isaac's  herdsmen, 
saying,  The  water  is  ours;  and  he 
called  the  name  of  the  well  Calumny, 
because  they  strove  with  him.  And 
they  digged  another  well,  and  strove 
for  that  also,  and  he  called  the  name 
of  it  Strife.  And  he  removed  from 
thence  and  digged  another  well,  and 
for  that  they  strove  not,  and  he  call- 
ed the  name  of  it  Latitude.  And  he 
said,  For  now  the  Lord  hath  made 
Latitude  for  us,  and  we  shall  be 
fruitful  in  the  land,"  (translating  the 
proper  names  of  the  Hebrew.)  %  Lot 
lifted  up  his  eyes.  From  the  spot 
where  they  were  thus  negociating — 
the  mountain  summit  east  of  Bethel, 
under  its  grove  of  oaks,  where  the 
tent  was  pitched,  Lot  looked  down 
upon  the  green  valley  of  the  Jordan 
— its  tropical  luxuriance  visible  even 
from  thence — beautiful  and  well  wa- 
tered as  that  garden  of  Eden,  of 
which  the  fame  still  lingered  in  their 
own  Chaldean  hills,  or  as  the  val- 
ley of  the  Nile  in  which  they  had  so 
lately  sojourned.  He  chose  the  rich 
soil,  and  with  it  the  corrupt  civilizs/- 
tion  which  had  grown  up  in  the 
rank  climate  of  that  deep  descent, 
and  once  more  he  turned  his  face 
eastward,  and  left  to  Abram  the  hard- 
ship, the  glory,  and  the  virtues  of  the 
rugged  hills,  the  sea  breezes,  and  the 
inexhaustible  future  of  Western  Pal- 
estine. It  was  Abram's  henceforward ; 
he  was  to  arise  and  walk  through 
the  length  and  through  the  breadth 
of  it,  for  God  had  given  it  to  him. 
This  was  the  first  appropriation  — 
the  first  consecration  of  the  Holy 
Land. — Stanley,  p.  34,  5.  If  Beheld 
all  the  plain ;  lit.,  saw  all  the  circle 


240 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  201' 


of  the  Jordan.  Lot  was  evidently 
governed  by  a  worldly  and  selfish, 
principle  in  selecting-  his  new  abode. 
He  embraced  the  opportunity  fur- 
nished him  by  Abram's  generous 
proposal,  and  he  chose  what  seemed 
the  richest  part  of  the  land,  without 
regard  to  the  choice  of  Abram,  and 
without  regard  to  the  moral  destitu- 
tions. He  was  free  and  eager  to  ob- 
tain the  best  part  of  the  country, 
though  by  so  doing  he  should  re- 
move far  from  the  vicinity  of  the 
church,  and  of  the  public  worship  of 
God.  1"  Well  watered.  Heb.,  All  of 
it  a  well  watered  region.  This  was 
the  great  necessity  in  the  East.  It 
would  promise  him  security  from 
periodical  famine.  It  seemed  to  him 
a  paradise.  Here  the  Jordan  is  first 
referred  to.  This  great  river  of  Pal- 
estine, called  the  Descender,  for  its 
swift  course  of  two  hundred  miles 
over  twenty-seven  rapids,  has  one 
source  at  Dan.  At  another  (Banias) 
it  bursts  out  from  the  foot  of  a  rock, 
and  flows  through  the  Lake  Meroni 
into  the  Sea  of  Galilee  or  Gennesaret. 
This  latter  is  six  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  below  the  Mediterranean,  and 
from  this  point  to  the  Dead  Sea,  it 
fjLlls  sis  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  mak- 
ing it  one  thousand  three  hundred 
feet  and  over  below  the  sea  level, 
when  it  reaches  the  Dead  Sea.  In 
April  we  found  it  rushing  through 
its  narrow  banks,  turbid  and  dan- 
gerous even  at  the  ford  near  Jericho. 
Here,  however,  a  breakwater  was 
constructed,  to  allow  the  pilgrims 
their  annual  bath  at  Easter  festival. 
The  banks  are  thickly  wooded  with 
a  dense  growth  of  willow  and  pop- 
lar, and  they  furnish  such  a  haunt 
as  wild  beasts  would  covet  describ- 
ed by  Zechariah,  (ch.  11 : 3,)  where 
the  destruction  of  these  thickets  and 
the  pride  of  Jordan  is  noted  by  a 
roaring  of  the  lions  which  dwelt 
there.  The  luxuriance  of  the  plain 
of  Jericho  is  proverbial.  We  saw 
the  waving  grain  which  seemed  to 
have  grown  spontaneously  —  most 
probably  having  sown  itself,  as  there 
was  no  appearance  of  the  hand  of 


man.  And  the  shores  of  Gennesaret 
were  skirted  with  richly  blooming 
oleander  and  rank  shrubbery,  but 
only  a  couple  of  cattle  giving  any 
evidence  of  occupation.  At  Magda- 
la,  near  the  foot  of  the  lake,  found 
a  few  hovels,  and  about  fifty  inhabi- 
tants. The  fields  on  the  hill  over- 
looking Tiberias  presented  the  best 
evidence  of  cultivation  that  we  had 
seen.  The  country  was  most  bright 
and  beautiful,  grass  and  grain  abun- 
dant, fine  trees  and  shrubbery,  with 
sweet  flowers  like  the  seringo  and 
orange  blossom.  A  magnificent  oak 
among  the  flowery  fields  reminded 
us  of  the  patriarchal  wanderings. 
"  Jordan  overflows  its  banks  all  the 
time  of  harvest,"  when  the  snows 
from  the  Lebanon  melt  and  swell 
the  river  beyond  its  narrow  shores. 
^[  Before  the  Lord  destroyed,  etc. 
The  face  of  the  country  was,  doubt- 
less, altered  by  that  destruction  of 
the  cities  of  the  plain.  *fl"  As  thou 
comest  unto  Zoar.  Vulg.,  Like  Egypt 
to  those  coming  into  'Zoar.  Sept., 
Until  coming  to  Zoar.  The  original 
name  of  Zoar  was  Beta,  and  it  is  so 
called  at  the  time  of  Abram's  war 
with  the  kings,  (ch.  14  :  2,  8.)  The 
historian  here  gives  the  later  name 
It  is  argued  by  some  that  the  Zoar 
of  the  Pentateuch,  as  connected  with 
the  plain  of  the  Jordan,  must  have 
been  at  the  northeast  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  instead  of  at  the  southern 
extremity,  and  that  "the  cities  of 
the  plain,"  Sodom,  Gomorrah,  Ad- 
mah,  Zeboim,  were  there  located ; 
Zoar  (one  of  them)  being  in  a  line 
with  Jericho,  where  the  Jordan  falls 
into  the  Dead  Sea.  The  Moabites 
and  Ammonites,  who  were  the  de- 
scendants of  Lot,  were  in  possession 
of  that  district  when  they  first  ap- 
pear in  the  history.  In  this  case 
Zoar  would  be  the  southern  ter- 
minus of  the  plain  of  the  Jordan, 
where  it  is  lost  in  the  Dead  Sea,  for 
there  seems  to  such  to  be  evidence 
that  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
sea  remains  much  as  it  was  before 
Abram's  time.  But  the  more  estab- 
lished view  has  been,  and  is,  that 


B.  0.  2016.] 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


241 


11  Then  Lot  chose  him  all  the  plain  of  Jordan ;  and  Lot  jour- 
neyed east :  and  they  separated  themselves  one  from  the  other. 

12  Abram  dwelled  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  Lot  <l  dwelled 
in  the  cities  of  the  plain  and  r  pitched  his  tent  toward  Sodom. 

q  ch.  19  ;  29.    r  ch.  14  :  12 ;  19  : 1 ;  2  Pet.  2  :  7,  8. 


the  cities  of  the  plain  which  were 
destroyed  occupied  what  is  now  the 
more  southern  portion  of  the  Dead 
Sea.    (See  Lynch's  Besearches.) 

Stanley  (Sinai  and  Palestine)  thus 
graphically  and  truly  describes  the 
scene  upon  which  these  two  lords  of 
Palestine  looked  out  from  the  heights 
of  Bethel,  as  we  also  ourselves  have 
witnessed  it.  "  Immediately  east  of 
the  low  gray  hills,  on  which  the  Ca- 
naanitish  Luz  and  the  Jewish  Beth- 
el afterwards  stood,  rises  (as  the 
highest  of  a  succession  of  eminences, 
each  of  them  marked  by  some  ves- 
tige of  ancient  edifices,)  a  conspicu- 
ous hill,  its  topmost  summit  resting, 
as  it  were,  on  the  rocky  slopes  be- 
low, and  distinguished  from  them 
by  the  olive  grove  which  clusters 
over  its  broad  surface  above.  From 
this  height,  thus  offering  a  natural 
base  for  the  patriarchal  altar,  and  a 
fitting  shade  for  the  patriarchal  tent, 
Abram  and  Lot  must  be  conceived 
as  taking  the  wide  survey  of  the 
country  "  on  the  right  hand,  and  on 
the  left,"  such  as  can  be  enjoyed 
from  no  other  point  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. To  the  east  there  rises  in  the 
foreground  the  jagged  range  of  the 
hills  above  Jericho — in  the  distance 
the  dark  wall  of  Moab — between 
them  lies  the  wide  valley  of  the 
Jordan — its  course  marked  by  the 
tract  of  forest,  in  which  its  rushing 
stream  is  enveloped,  and  down  to 
this  valley,  a  long  and  deep  ravine, 
now,  as  always,  the  main  line  of 
communication  by  which  it  is  ap- 
proached from  the  central  hills  of 
Palestine — a  ravine  rich  with  vine, 
olive,  and  fig,  winding  its  way 
through  ancient  reservoirs  and  sep- 
ulchres, remains  of  a  civilization 
now  extinct,  but  in  the  times  of  the 
patriarchs  not  yet  begun.  This  is 
the  view  which  was  to  Abram  what 


Pisgah  was  afterwards  to  his  great 
descendant.  No  crust  of  salt,  no 
volcanic  convulsions  had  as  yet 
blasted  its  verdure,  or  touched  the 
secure  civilization  of  the  early  Phe- 
nician  settlements  which  had  struck 
root  within  its  deep  abyss,"  (p.  214.) 

11.  This  great  plain  or  valley, 
(lit.,  circle,)  of  the  Jordan  is  now 
called  by  the  Arabs  El  Ghor.  Jose- 
phus  calls  it  "the  great  'plain" 
"  The  valley  of  the  Ghor,  which  is  a 
vast  longitudinal  crevasse  in  calca- 
reous and  volcanic  rocks,  extending 
from  the  southern  roots  of  Libanus 
and  Anti-Libanus  to  the  Gulf  of 
Akaba,  from  one  thousand  to  two 
thousand  feet  deep,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  long,  and  from  one  to 
eight  miles  broad,  appears  to  have 
been  caused  by  the  forcible  rending 
and  falling  in  of  the  aqueous  strata 
resulting  from  the  eruption  and  ele- 
vation of  the  basalt  which  bases  it 
almost  from  its  commencement  to 
the  Dead  Sea.  The  great  altera- 
tions in  its  surface  terminated  prob- 
ably in  the  catastrophe  of  Sodom." 
Neicbold.  The  neighborhood  of  Beth- 
el was  about  equi-distant  from  the 
two  extremities  of  the  plain.  There 
is  something  in  the  phrase  "  all  the 
plain,"  repeated  here,  which  inti- 
mates the  grasping  temper  of  Lot. 
1"  Bast.  By  this  we  should  under- 
stand that  he  took  "  the  right  hand," 
according  to  the  offer,  vs.  9.  But 
the  Hebrews  in  naming  the  points 
of  the  compass,  supposed  the  face  to 
be  towards  the  sun-rising,  and  so 
"the  right  hand"  would  be  south. 
From  the  hill  country  of  Bethel  cr 
Ai  the  route  lay  south-eastward 
1"  And  tliey  separated  themselves  one 
from  the  other.  Heb.,  A  man  from 
his  brother. 

12.  TJie  land  of  Canaan.    As  dis- 
tinguished from  the  valley  of  the 


VOL 


I.— 11, 


242 


GENESIS. 


13  But  the  men  of  Sodom  8  were  wicked,  and 
the  Lord,  exceedingly. 

s  ch.  18  :  20  ;  Ezek.  16  :  49  ;  2  Pet.  2  :  7,  8.    t  ch.  6  :  11. 


[B.  C  2016 
sinners  before 


Jordan,  being  the  portion  of  Pales- 
tine between  the  valley  and  the 
Mediterranean  Sea :  though  without 
such  qualification  of  the  context,  the 
phrase  would  be  taken  to  include  all 
the  country  lying  between  the  Jor- 
dan and  Mediterranean  to,  or  includ- 
ing the  Dead  Sea.  It  may  here  be 
used  in  the  wide  sense  even  to  signify 
that  Abram  had  now  his  footing  in  the 
covenant  land  of  Canaan,  where  he 
was  appointed  to  dwell,  and  which 
he  should  ultimately,  in  his  posterity, 
occupy.  Lot's  dwelling  in  the  cities 
of  the  plain  was  outside  of  the  cove- 
nant arrangement,  and  temporary — 
and  upon  sufferance — a  tenant  at 
will.  This  is  the  significance  of  the 
record  here.  The  land  of  Canaan, 
in  the  Scriptural  history,  is  com- 
monly distinguished  from  the  land 
of  Gilead,  the  high  table  land  east 
of  the  Jordan,  (Num.  3  : 1-40 ;  Josh. 
22  :  32,  etc. 

Note.  —  Now  that  the  covenant 
head  has  fairly  a  footing  in  the 
promised  land  in  his  own  covenant 
right,  let  us  look  back  from  this 
point  at  the  covenant  thread  in  the 
history  of  the  nations  and  persons. 
We  find  the  general  table  of  nations 
in  ch.  10,  leaving  us  with  Shem's 
line,  so  as  to  trace  the  covenant  lin- 
eage. And  in  ch.  11  accordingly, 
after  a  narration  of  the  event  which 
led  to  the  dispersion  of  nations,  and 
peopling  of  the  earth,  Shem's  line  is 
resumed  (vs.  10)  so  as  to  trace  it  to 
Terah,  where  we  are  introduced-  to 
Abram,  the  covenant  head.  Ac- 
cordingly, of  the  sons  of  Terah,  we 
find  Lot  and  his  posterity  dropped, 
and  Abram  left  alone  iu  the  list,  as 
he  in  whom  the  promises  descend — 
the  chosen  conveyancer  of  blessings 
to  all  the  nations.  So  also  we  shall 
find  that  of  Abram's  sons,  Isaac  is 
chosen  as  the  son  of  promise ;  and 
of  Isaac's  sons,  Jacob  is  chosen  ;  and 
in  Jacob's  line,  the  promise  takes 


the  course  of  Judah,  as  having  the 
sceptre  of  the  theocratic  kingdom, 
issuing  in  David  the  king — the  emi- 
nent royal  ancestor  of  Jesus.  We 
observe  here  also  that  the  covenant 
line  is  not  determined  by  primogeui 
ture,  but  Shem,  Abram,  Isaac,  Jacob, 
and  David  were  younger  sons.  \  The 
cities  of  the  plain.  There  were  five 
of  these  cities — Sodom,  Gomorrah, 
Admah,  Zeboim,  and  Zoar,  occupy- 
ing the  vale  of  Siddim,  at  the  Dead 
Sea.  These  cities  were  under  their 
respective  kings,  who  were  attacked 
by  Chedorlaomer,  king  of  Elam,  and 
his  allies  (ch.  14 :  19)  and  defeated, 
till  Abram  came  to  the  rescue.  Four 
of  these  cities  were  destroyed  by 
God's  manifest  and  swift  judgment, 
raining  down  fire  out  of  heaven,  (ch. 
19:23-29.  See  Notes.)  The  term 
for  "plain"  here  is  the  same  as  is 
used  ch.  13:10,  "the  plain  of  Jor- 
dan," and  means  rather  "  circle." 
The  Sept.  reads,  Lot  dwelt  in  a  city 
of  the  neighborhood,  and  pitched 
his  tent  in  Sodom.  The  Vulg.  reads, 
Lot  sojourned  in  the  towns  which 
were  round  about  Jordan,  and  dwelt 
in  Sodom.  %  Pitched  his  tent.  Heb. 
"And  he  tented  unto  (at)  Sodom." 
As  Abram  passed  through  the  land 
unto  the  place  of  Sichem,  when  he 
entered  the  country  (ch.  12:6,  9) 
dwelling  in  tents,  and  camping  on- 
ward from  place  to  place,  so  Lot 
camped  at  Sodom.  This  mode  of 
travel  was  after  the  manner  of  the 
nomades. 

13.  The  corrupt  state  of  society  in 
Sodom  soon  discovered  the  great 
mistake  of  Lot's  choice,  and  revealed 
the  fallacy  upon  which  he  had  acted 
to  seek  fine  lands  and  crops,  without 
regard  to  religious  privileges.  Lot 
was  a  professor  of  the  true  religion, 
and  had  been  enjoying  the  privilege 
of  public  worship  with  Abram,  yet 
he  seems  to  make  little  account  of 
this  in  seeking  a  settlement.     Many 


B.  C.  2016.] 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


243 


1 4  *T  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Abram,  after  that  Lot  u  was 
separated  from  him,  Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from  the 
place  where  thou  art,  wnorthward,  and  southward,  and  eastward, 
and  westward : 

15  For  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  xto  thee  will  I  give  it, 
and  y  to  thy  seed  for  ever. 

u  vs.  11.     ir  ch.  28  :  14.    x  ch.  12  :  7 ;  15  :  18  ;  17  :  8  ;   24  :  7  ;  26  :  4  ;   Num.  34  :  12  ;   Deut, 
34  :  4 ;  Acts  7:5.    y  2  Chron.  20  :  7  ;  Ps.  37  :  22-29  ;  112  :  2. 


migrate  to  territories  that  are  very 
desirable,  as  being  well  watered,  and 
having  fine  soil,  and  prospect  of  rich 
returns  for  labor,  but  make  no  pro- 
vision for  securing  Christian  society 
and  facilities  of  public  worship.  Lot 
was  attracted  by  the  mere  secular 
aspects  of  the  country,  but  what 
were  they  for  any  real  comfort 
amidst  the  corruption  of  the  popula- 
tion ?  Many  Christians  emigrate 
to  the  rich  frontiers  and  new  terri- 
tories, having  too  exclusive  regard 
to  worldly  profit,  and  neglect  and 
forget  God's  worship ;  but  they  find 
the  fearful  disadvantage  of  living 
among  the  wicked,  and  that  it  more 
than  counterbalances  all  the  gains 
of  the  most  fertile  fields  and  richest 
mines  of  the  earth.  Let  such  pro- 
vide for  Christian  institutions,  for 
public  worship,  and  evangelizing 
agencies,  so  as  to  preserve  them- 
selves and  families  from  the  doom 
that  must  come  upon  those  who  live 
in  Sodom.  It  is  thought  that  Lot 
went  to  Sodom  unmarried,  and  that 
he  afterwards  married  a  woman  of 
that  ungodly  population,  and  so  was 
involved  more  deeply  in  the  doom 
that  fell  upon  that  people,  (Gen. 
6  :  1-7.)  He  is  called  "  a  righteous 
man  "  by  the  apostle  Peter,  and  his 
record  is,  "  That  that  righteous  man 
dwelling  among  them,  in  seeing  and 
hearing,  vexed  his  righteous  soul 
from  day  to  day  with  their  unlawful 
deeds,"  (2  Pet.  2 :  8.)  To  which 
Bishop  Hall  remarks,  "  He  vexed  his 
own  soul,  for  who  made  him  stay 
there  V  ^  Wicked,  and  sinners  be- 
fore Jehovah,  (Heb.,  to  Jehovah) — ex- 
ceedingly. Onkelos  reads,  "  But  the 
men  of  Sodom  were  wicked  with  tJieir 


riches,  and  guilty  with  their  bodies 
before  the  Lord"  Lot  has  fallen 
into  the  very  vortex  of  vice  and  blas- 
phemy. The  vices  which  prevailed 
have  made  "  Sodom  "  the  synonyme 
for  the  most  degrading  and  brutal 
of  crimes  in  society.  The  after  his- 
tory of  its  destruction  shows  the 
vile,  unblushing  vices  of  the  people, 
which  made  their  cup  of  iniquity 
brimming  full,  and  called  fer  swift 
vengeance  from  heaven,  Gen.  19 :  28, 
29  ;  Ezek.  16  :  49  ;  2  Pet.  2  :  7,  8. 

14,  15.  Now  that  Lot  was  separat- 
ed from  Abram,  the  covenant  head 
stands  alone,  and  in  a  position  to  be 
addressed  and  dealt  with  in  his  cov- 
enant relations.  He  is  now  parted 
from  his  kinsman,  the  companion  oi 
his  journeyings,  and  isolated  in  the 
world,  he  is  to  receive  the  special 
encouragement  of  his  covenant  God. 
Now  he  is  formally  constituted  the 
rightful  owner  of  the  land,  and  in- 
ducted into  the  heritage,  and  a  vast 
increase  of  progeny  is  promised  to 
him.  He  is  to  make  a  full  survey 
of  the  land  in  all  directions,  and  he 
is  assured  that  it  is  his  to  inherit, 
and  a  title  deed  is  given  to  him  for 
his  seed  forever.  Here  is  now  more 
explicit  mention  than  before  of  what 
he  himself  is  to  possess  by  virtue  of 
the  Divine  grant.  (1.)  First  he  was 
assured  in  general  that  he  should 
be  blessed,  and  become  a  blessing, 
(ch.  12:1-3.)  That  was  the  bless- 
ing of  grace,  "the  promise  of  the 
Spirit  through  faith,"  (Gal.  3  :  14,) 
and  the  free  grant  of  righteousness 
or  justification,  (Gal.  3  :  6.)  (2.)  On 
the  second  interview  he  is  further 
assured  that  the  land  to  which  he 
had  come,  by  faith,  should  be  the 


344 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2016. 


16  And  ZI  will  make  thy  seed  as  the  dust  of  the  earth:  so 
that  if  a  man  can  number  the  dust  of  the  earth,  then  shall  thy 
seed  also  be  numbered. 

17  Arise,  walk  through  the  land  in  the  length  of  it  and  in  the 
breadth  of  it ;  for  I  will  give  it  unto  thee. 


zch.l5:5;   22:17;   26:4;   28:14;   32:12;   Exod.  32:13;   Num.  23:10;   Deut.  1  :  10 ; 
1  Kings  4  :  20  ;  1  Chron.  27  :  23  ;  Isa.  4S  :  19  ;  Jer.  33  :  22  ;   Rom.  4  :  16,  17,  18;  Heb.  11  :  12. 


heritage  of  his  posterity,  as  a  free 
grant  by  God,  (ch.  12  :  7.)  And  now 
(3.)  He  is  further  guaranteed  as  to 
this  heritage,  and  the  terms  are  such 
as  to  imply  something  enduring  be- 
yond any  mere  earthly  and  temporal 
possessions.  "  To  his  seed  forever." 
This  is  the  tenor  of  the  grant.  And 
so  we  are  told  that  by  faith  Abram 
"looked  for  the  city  that  hath  the 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  ma- 
ker is  "God,"  (Heb.  11 :  10,  13,  16.) 
And  God  guarantees  to  Abram  the 
personal  possession,  which  was  not 
fulfilled  if  the  mere  earthly  Canaan 
was  all  that  is  meant.  But  the 
promise,  "  To  thee  will  I  give  it," 
pointed,  as  the  apostle  explains,  to 
the  "  better  country,  that  is  an  heav- 
enly," which  is  the  estate  of  believers 
by  virtue  of  God's  interest  in  them 
— having  prepared  for  them  a  city. 
The  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament 
dwell  much  on  the  ultimate  posses- 
sion of  the  promised  land  by  the 
ancient  covenant  people.  And  there 
are  passages  which  seem  to  imply 
(if  literally  understood)  that  this  re- 
storation of  the  Jews  to  Palestine  is 
the  chief  burden  of  some  of  the 
prophecies.  But  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment nothing  is  said  of  this,  and  we 
are  led  to  infer  that  this  was  mainly 
to  convey,  under  a  most  impressive 
symbol,  the  great  covenant  grant 
here  set  forth  of  the  heavenly  heri- 
tage reserved  for  the  true  Israel. 
This  does  not  exclude  the  idea  of  a 
literal  fulfilment  by  the  way.  It 
may  lie  in  God's  plan  to  give  the 
land  of  promise  into  the  actual  pos- 
session of  the  children  of  Abram 
more  freely  and  fully  than  ever  be- 
fore But^the  promise  cannot  surely 
terminate  in  this  passing  fulfilment. 


Paul,  in  the  Hebrews,  shows  that 
its  grand,  high,  main  significance  is 
its  heavenly  nature,  ch.  12:7;  15:18; 
17:8;  24:7;  26:4;  Num.  34:13; 
Deut.  34 :  4. 

16.  Thy  seed.  The  spiritual  pur- 
port of  the  promise  is  here  further 
reached,  in  the  innumerable  seed. 
The  literal  increase  is  not  excluded, 
but  this  was  not  all  that  was  meant, 
else  it  would  be  of  small  moment 
comparatively.  God  does  not  so  ac- 
count of  a  mere  earthly  progeny. 
He  rebuked  their  boast  of  being 
Abram's  seed  according  to  the  flesh. 
But  the  spiritual  posterity,  and  the 
true  Israel,  after  the  spirit,  this 
was  the  grant  here  made  to  Abram. 
"  And  if  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye 
Abram's  seed  and  heirs  according  to 
the  promise,"  (Gal.  3  :  29.)  See  ch. 
28  :  14  ;  Exod.  32  :  13  ;  Num.  23  :  10; 
Isa.  48  :  19  ;  Jer.  33  :  22. 

17.  Arise,  walk  through  the  land. 
Heb.,  Walk  about  in  the  land.  The 
largest  latitude  is  thus  allowed  him, 
as  the  proprietor  of  the  soil,  to  walk 
over  the  land,  in  its  utmost  limits, 
at  his  pleasure,  and  call  it  all  his 
own,  and  feel  himself  to  be  inducted 
thus,  by  the  Divine  grant,  into  the 
formal  proprietorship  of  the  whole 
country.  And  this  grant  of  the 
earthly  Canaan  is  typical  of  that 
higher  heritage  of  the  heavenly  Ca- 
naan— the  believers'  land  of  prom- 
ise. "For  we  which  have  believed 
do  enter  into  rest,"  Heb.  4:3.  "  For 
if  Joshua  had  given  them  rest,  then 
would  he  not  afterwards  have  spoken 

I  of  another  day,"  Heb.  4 :  8.  And  this 
is  the  better  country,  even  an  heav- 
|  enly,  which  the  covenant  God  of 
j  Abram  promises  to  give  to  him  per 
I  sonally.    "  I  will  give  it  unto  thee." 


B,  C.  2016.] 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


245 


18  Then  Abram  removed  his  tent,  and  came  and  a  dwelt  in 
the  plain  of  Mamre,  b  which  is  in  Hebron,  and  built  there  an 
altar  unto  the  Lord. 


a  ch.  14  :  13.    b  ch.  35  :  27 ;  37  :  14. 


Note. — When  the  Lord  divided 
to  the  nations  their  inheritance,  with 
respect  to  the  very  "  number  of  the 
children  of  Israel,"  Dent.  32  :  8, 
Shem  was  allotted  the  belt  of 
country  stretching  eastward  from 
the  Mediterranean,  mainly  between 
the  parallels  of  latitude  which  bound 
Palestine.  North  of  this  was  the 
region  of  Japhet,  partly  in  Europe, 
and  partly  in  Asia ;  and  south  of  this 
Semitic  belt  was  the  district  of  Ham, 
both  in  Europe  and  Asia.  Mainly, 
these  were  the  boundaries  as  given 
in  ch.  10.  When  Nimrod,  with  his 
followers,  set  up  the  kingdom,  whose 
"beginning  was  Babel,"  etc.,  (ch. 
10 :  10)  he  invaded  the  territory 
which  God  reserved  for  Shem,  and 
he  did  it  in  the  spirit  of  rebellion, 
as  his  name  imports  —  of  rebellion 
against  God's  plan  of  peopling  the 
earth  by  the  dispersion  of  the  sons 
of  Noah.  And  this  would  seem  to 
be  the  movement  eastward  to  Shi- 
nar,  ch.  11  :  2.  Thus  began  the  re- 
bellious conflict  of  Ham's  line  with 
Shem's,  Nimrod  being  a  descendant 
of  Ham.  Besides  this,  the  Canaan- 
ites  are  found  occupying  the  very 
district  most  specially  set  apart  for 
the  Shemites — for  the  covenant  peo- 
ple— and  this  is  a  further  invasion 
on  the  part  of  Ham's  line.  But  God 
scatters  the  proud,  defiant  horde  of 
Nimrod  from  his  seat  of  empire  in 
Babylonia  and  Assyria,  and  defeats 
their  wilful  and  impious  designs. 
Abram,  from  Chaldea,  in  the  district 
of  Shem,  is  called  to  enter  the  land 
of  promise,  as  it3  rightful  claimant 
and  occupant,  to  dispute  with  them 
the  possession,  and  at  length  to 
drive  them  out,  Num.  ch.  13  and  14. 
God  now  makes  solemn  and  formal 
grant  to  him  and  his  seed  of  this 
very  territory,  to  be  his  forever. 

Candlish  (Vol  I.,  p.  310,  etc.)  in- 
fers   from    the    history.      1.   That 


schemes  of  conquest  and  of  concen- 
trated ambition  are  seen  not  to  be 
of  God.  Political  and  ecclesiastical 
schemes  of  tyranny — the  lust  of 
power,  whether  in  church  or  in 
state — all  attempts  of  apostate  and 
ungodly  men  to  make  themselves  a 
name  (profanely),  and  build  a  tower 
to  heaven  are  godless. 

2.  Orderly  dispersion  and  coloni- 
zation are  of  God.  In  the  line  of 
Japheth  particularly,  to  which  we 
belong,  colonization  seems  to  be  the 
Divine  rule.  By  colonies,  as  much 
as  by  Roman  arms,  the  way  was  pre- 
pared for  the  coming  of  Christ,  and 
the  calling  of  the  Gentiles.  Those 
branches  of  Japheth  which  have 
most  dwelt  in  Shem's  tents,  have 
been  most  marked  by  that  enlarge- 
ment. It  is  from  free  Protestant 
lands  that  colonies  have  chiefly  gone 
forth. 

3.  Even  if  Japheth  should  prove 
unfaithful  to  his  trust,  as  thus  privi- 
leged and  enlarged  by  God,  there  is 
hope  for  the  world  still.  "Blessed 
be  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Shem,"  is 
still  the  rallying  cry.  Japheth  is 
yet  further  to  be  enlarged,  and  to 
dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem,  when 
"their  fulness"  (of  Israel)  shall  be 
"the  riches  of  the  Gentiles,  and  of 
the  world,"  Rom.  11 :  12. 

4.  This  division  of  languages  shall 
be  no  ultimate  obstacle  to  the  tri- 
umph of  the  cause  of  God.  At  the 
Pentecost  it  was  announced  to  those 
of  "  every  nation  under  heaven," 
"the  promise  is  unto  you  and  to 
your  children,  and  to  all  that  are 
afar  off,"  Acts  2  :  39. 

18.  At  this  Divine  bidding,  Abram 
removes  his  residence,  as  the  term 
implies  (vs.  12,  where  Lot  tented  at 
Sodom)  took  up  his  quarters,  (Sept., 
KaTUKrjoz)  in  the  plain  of  Mamre. 
"  Mamre  "  is  so  called  after  the  Am- 
orite   chief,  who  was    the    ally  of 


246 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2016 


Abram.  "  Mamre,  which  faces  Mac- 
pelah,"  ch.  23  :  17, 19  ;  25 :  9  ;  49 :  30 ; 
50  :  13.  As  in  ch.  12  :  6,  the  term 
for  plain  means  "  oak ;"  here  also, 
oaks — oak-grove.  And  because  the 
oak  was  so  commonly  a  landmark, 
it  may  have  come  to  be  so  rendered, 
(also  by  Onkelos  and  Vulgate)  "a 
plain;'  (ch.  14:13;  Deut.  11:30.) 
"f[  In  Hebron.  In  the  vicinity  of  this 
ancient  city  "  the  oak  of  Abram  " 
so  called,  was  pointed  out  to  us — a 
noble  tree  in  the  midst  of  a  field, 
about  a  mile  from  the  town,  on  the 
plains  of  Mamre.  We  rode  up  to  it, 
and  halted  under  its  branches.  It 
measures  about  twenty-three  feet  in 
circumference,  and  it  spreads  over 
ninety  feet  of  surface.  Hebron  is 
about  twenty  miles  south  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  as  many  north  of  Beershe- 
ba.  This  is  the  third  and  chief 
camping  place  of  the  wandering  pa- 
triarch. It  is  now  called  after  this 
illustrious  occupant,  "  El  Khalil" 
"  the  friend  "  (of  God.)  The  modern 
town  we  reached  by  an  old  paved 
road,  much  worn,  and  rough.  Along 
the  plain  we  passed  four  wells,  the 
special  landmarks  of  property  in 
that  country — one  of  these  was  very 
deep.  They  are  commonly  circular, 
with  a  large  circumference,  and 
stoned  up  to  the  level  of  the  ground. 
Sometimes  a  curb  is  also  laid  above 
the  level.  The  town  lies  on  a  slope  of 
the  hill,  which  is  very  rocky  and 
bare  at  the  summit.  The  country 
is  improved.  Vineyards  and  olive- 
yards  and  corn-fields  abound,  and 
the  approach  to  the  town  is  skirted 
with  rows  of  quince  trees,  in  full 
blossom  in  April.  And  the  grapes, 
just  forming,  showed  the  long  clus- 
ters which  are  characteristic  of  this 
south  country  of  Palestine — the  val- 
ley of  Eshcol,  Num.  13 :  23.  The 
name  "Hebron"  was  not  given  to 
the  place  till  after  this  time.  The 
original  name  was  Kirjath-Arba. 
We  rode  up  a  rocky  slope  to  a  point 
overlooking  the  walls  of  the  mosque, 
where  is  the  cave  of  Macpelah.  We 
caught  only  a  glimpse  of  the  enclo- 
sure, which  seemed  to  us  so  sncred, 


as  the  burial  place  of  Sarah  and 
Abram,  and  Isaac  and  Rebecca,  and 
Leah  and  Jacob.  This  mosque  is 
held  by  Mussulmen  to  be  the  fourth 
in  degree  of  sanctity  in  the  world. 
"  The  ancestral  burying  place  is  the 
one  fixed  element  in  the  unstable 
life  of  a  nomadic  race,  and  this  was 
what  Hebron  furnished  to  the  patri- 
archs."— Stanley.  This  ancient  sep- 
ulchre was  lately  entered  by  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  and  his  suite,  yet 
only  so  far  as  to  see  the  several 
shrines,  but  not  to  penetrate  the 
cave  itself,  nor  the  place  of  actual 
sepulture.  Even  this  privilege  was 
a  high  honor,  and  their  survey  bears 
witness  to  the  Biblical  record. 
*ft  Bmlt  there  an  altar  unto  the  Lord. 
This  is  Abram's  third  altar  in  the 
land  of  promise.  Before  he  can 
have  a  movable  sanctuary — a  taber- 
nacle— he  builds  an  altar  wherever 
he  plants  himself.  He  must  have 
the  domestic  and  public  worship  of 
God  maintained  wherever  he  comes 
to  dwell.  And  along  with  his  own 
abode  he  provides  for  the  abode  of 
the  Highest,  as  a  prime  necessity  of 
his  nature.  Here  he  shows  himself 
"the  father  of  the  faithful,"  and 
herein  all  believers  will  show  them- 
selves to  be  his  children,  in  provid- 
ing for  the  stated  and  public  wor- 
ship of  God,  and  building  an  altar 
to  Jehovah  wherever  they  have 
their  home.  Abram  was  called  "  the 
friend  of  God,"  and  by  faith  he  so 
journed  in  the  land  of  promise,  as  in 
a  strange  country,  dwelling  in  tents 
with  Isaac  and  Jacob,  the  heirs  with 
him  of  the  same  promise.  "  For  he 
looked  for  the  city  which  hath 
the  foundations,  whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God,"  Heb.  11 :  8-10 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

§  34.  cliedorlaomer  and  the 
Kings  of  Siddim —  Abram  in 
War — Lot's  Capture  and  Re- 
covery.   Ch.  14 : 1-16. 

We  come  now  to  a  new  phase  of 
Abram's  character  and  history.    He 


B.  C.  2016.1 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


247 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

AND  it  came  to  pass,  in  the  days  of  Amraphel  king  a  of  Shi- 
nar,  Arioch  king  of  Ellasar,  Chedorlaomer  king  of  l)  Elam, 
and  Tidal  king  of  nations  ; 

a  ch.  10  :  10;  11 :  2.    b  Isa.  11  :  11. 

between  these  two  sovereigns.  The 
town  is  situated  about  midway  be- 
tween Mugheir  and  Erech,  on  the 
Euphrates.  It  is  now  called  Sen- 
kereh.  It  was  the  capital  of  a  king- 
dom of  Lower  Shinar,  soon  after- 
wards absorbed  into  Babylon.  The 
name  Arioch  may  mean  lion-like. 
In  Dan.  2  :  14  this  name  appears  in 
the  person  of  the  chief  officer,  who 
is  captain  of  the  guard.  ^[  Chedor- 
loonier.  The  chief  of  the  expedition, 
to  whom  the  other  three  were  only 
allied  in  this  great  raid,  was  Chedor- 
laomer, (Sept.,  Ghodollogomor.)  Upon 
the  bricks  recently  found  in  Chaldea 
there  occurs  the  name  of  a  king — 
Eudurmapula  —  which  Ratclinsoii 
thinks  may  be  the  same,  and  espe- 
cially as  he  is  further  distinguished 
by  the  title  of  "  Bavager  of  the 
West."  The  latter  part  of  the  name 
—  laomer  —  presents  the  difficulty  ; 
but  this  may  be  the  Semitic  transla- 
tion of  the  original  Hamite  term 
Mapula.  Elam,  or  Elymais,  of 
which  he  was  king,  is  the  ancient 
name  for  Persia  ;  though  the  Elam 
of  Scripture  seems  to  lie  south  of 
Assyria,  and  east  of  Persia  proper, 
and  is  called  Susia,  or  Susiana. 
Dan.  (ch.  8 :  2)  places  Shushan  (Susa) 
in  the  province  of  Elam.  This  king 
is  not  only  able  to  make  war  at  a 
distance  of  two  thousand  miles  from 
his  own  territory,  but  he  plainly 
holds  in  subjection  these  allied 
kingdoms  adjacent  to  him,  which 
here  join  in  his  raid  upon  the  cities 
of  the  plain.  "  The  Elamites  were 
a  Semitic  people  (ch.  10  :  22,)  and 
they  appear  to  have  been  invaded 
and  conquered  at  a  very  early  time 
by  a  Hamitic  or  Cushite  race  from 
Babylon,  which  was  the  ruling  ele- 
ment in  the  territory  from  a  date 


is  no  sooner  confirmed  thus  express- 
ly in  his  title  to  the  land,  than  the 
land  is  invaded  by  a  confederacy  of 
hostile  kings.  Thus  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  no  sooner  set  up  anywhere 
than  there  is  a  rallying  of  the  world 
kingdoms  against  it. 

The  occasion  of  this  invasion  is 
given  in  vss.  4  &  5.  The  kings  of 
the  five  cities  (Pentapolis)  called  "  the 
cities  of  the  plain  "  had  been,  during 
twelve  years,  tributary  to  the  king 
of  Elam  (Elymais),  whose  name  was 
Chedorlaomer.  These  five  kings  re- 
belled on  the  thirteenth  year  of  their 
subjugation,  and  the  following  year 
this  invasion  of  their  territory  was 
undertaken  to  reduce  them  again  to 
the  condition  of  vassalage.  "  Many 
generations  back  the  first  world-pow- 
er, consisting  of  four  cities,  was  estab- 
lished by  Nimrod  in  the  land  of  Shi- 
nar, (ch.  10  :  8-10.)  This  had  now 
given  way  to  a  world-confederacy, 
consisting  of  four  kings.  From  the 
vicinity  of  the  places  where  they 
reigned,  it  is  evident  that  they  were 
petty  princes  of  domains  varying 
from  a  town  and  its  suburbs  to  a 
comparatively  extensive  territory." 

1.  Li  the  days  of.  (Sept.,  During 
the  reign  of.)  T[  Amraphel.  (Sept., 
Amarphal.)  This  king,  whose  name 
is  first  on  the  list,  i3  the  successor  of 
Nimrod  the  Cushite,  as  king  of  Shi- 
nar, and  on  this  account,  may  rank 
first  among  the  allies.  His  king- 
dom lay  in  tie  southern  part  of 
Mesopotamia,  in  the  Babylonian 
provinces.  Another  of  the  confed- 
erates, from  this  same  region  of  the 
old  Paradise,  is  Arioch,  king  of  El- 
lasar. If  this  name  is  to  be  taken 
for  Larsa,  as  the  Assyrian  inscrip- 
tions would  indicate,  then  we  find 
the  old  kingdom  of  Shinar  divided 


248 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2016. 


2  That  these  made  war  with  Bera  king  of  Sodom,  and  with 
Birsha  king  of  Gomorrah,  Shinab  king  of  c  Aclmah,  and  Sheme- 
ber  king  of  Zeboiim,  and  the  king  of  Bela,  which  is  d  Zoar. 

3  All  these  were  joined  together  in  the  vale  of  Siddim,  e  which 
is  the  salt  sea. 

4  Twelve  years  f  they  served  Chedorlaomer,  and  in  the  thir- 
teenth year  they  rebelled. 

c  Deut.  29  :  23.     d  ch.  19  :  22.    e  Dent.  3  :  IT  •   Num.  34 :  12 ;  Josh.  3  :  16 ;   Ps.  107  :  34. 
fell.  9:26. 


anterior  to  Chedorlaomer.  These 
Cushites  formed  the  dominant  race, 
while  the  Elamites  were  in  a  de- 
pressed condition." — G.  Raiclinson. 
It  is  thought  most  probable  that 
Chedorlaomer  was  a  Shemite,  and 
that  the  Cushite  conquerors  of  that 
territory  had  succumbed,  ^f  Tidal. 
The  remaining  confederate  is  named 
Tidal.  (Sept.,  Thargal.)  Heb.,  Thi- 
dal.  The  name  is  a  significant  one 
in  the  early  Hamitic  dialect  of  that 
country,  being  "  the  great  chief "  of 
the  Persians.  He  is  called  "  king  of 
nations,"  as  sovereign  of  divers  no- 
madic tribes,  to  which  no  special 
tract  of  country  could  be  assigned, 
since  at  different  seasons  of  the  year 
they  occupied  different  districts  of 
Lower  Mesopotamia,  as  is  the  case 
with  the  Arabs  of  these  parts  at  the 
present  day.  Abram  had  come  from 
that  region — Ur  of  the  Chaldees. 

2.  These  made  war.  As  Shinar 
was  the  original  seat  of  the  race,  it 
is  possible  that  it  laid  some  claim  to 
supremacy  over  the  colonies.  It  was 
also  a  great  commercial  centre,  and 
the  district  of  Pentapolis,  or  five 
cities  (of  the  plain,)  was  on  the 
great  highway  to  the  riches  of  the 
Nile,  and  the  key  to  the  com- 
merce between  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  and  Arabia,  and  between  Ara- 
bia and  Eastern  Asia.  ^[  Bera  king 
of  Sodom.  The  five  cities  with  their 
kings  are  here  named  —  Sodom 
being  the  chief  in  rank  and  riches, 
and  occupying  the  first  place  on  the 
list.  They  were  the  most  luxurious 
and  wicked  of  the  people.  It  is 
commonly  supposed  that  the  site  of 
all  these  cities,  excepting  only  that 


of  Bela,  was  buried  by  the  Dead  Sea. 
And  this  would  seem  to  be  the  in- 
timation of  the  clause  here — "the 
vale  of  Siddim — this  is  the  Salt  Sea," 
where  a  special  note  is  made  of  the 
fact  that  that  vale  is  the  sea — occu 
pies  the  territory  where  now  is  the 
Salt  Sea.  They  who  now  maintain 
that  these  cities  were  not  submerged, 
nor  their  sites  afterwards  drowned 
by  these  waters,  but  that  their  ruins 
may  yet  be  identified  along  the  con- 
fines of  the  sea,  find  it  difficult  to 
explain  this  note  of  the  historian, 
without  admitting  that  so  indeed 
he  must  have  supposed.  (See  Notes 
ch.  18.)  These  five  cities  and  their 
kings  (the  name  of  the  last  little  one 
not  being  given)  joined  together — 
formed  a  league  in  self-defence. 

4.  The  circumstances  which  led  to 
the  invasion  are  here  recited.  This 
Elamitic  king  had  held  them  in  sub- 
jection during  twelve  years  —  that 
is,  dating  probably  from  the  com- 
mencement of  his  reign.  The  re- 
volt occurred  in  the  thirteenth  year, 
and  it  was  in  the  year  following  the 
revolt  that  the  haughty  leader,  with 
his  allied  troops,  and  ample  prepa- 
rations, came  down  upon  the  rebel- 
lious cities  and  their  kings.  This 
military  foray  swept  over  the  whole 
district  lying  along  the  east  of  the 
Jordan,  from  Shinar,  below  the  Dead 
Sea.  From  the  land  of  Shinar,  a 
little  south  of  east,  they  first  bor« 
towards  the  northwest,  touching 
upon  Damascus,  md  encountering 
the  Bephaim.  (Sept.,  the  giants.) 
These  were  in  Ashteroth  Karnaim — 
the  principal  town,  dedicated  to  the 
horned  Ashteroth,  as  the  term  im 


B.  C.  2016.] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


249 


ports.  This  is  a  trace  of  the  idola- 
try prevalent  in  the  country  east  of 
the  Jordan.  The  original  Astarte 
(goddess)  was  figured  with  the  head 
of  a  cow,  having  a  globe  between 
the  horns.  It  is  now  known  as  Tel 
Ashterah.  (Jour.  Geog.  Soc,  V.  2., 
p.  331.)  The  town  was  situated  in 
the  district  of  Bashan,  about  six 
miles  from  Edrei,  and  was  assigned 
after  the  Hebrew  conquest  to  the 
tribe  of  Manasseh.  It  lies  (proba- 
bly) due  east  of  the  southern  point 
of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias.  "  The  Re- 
phaim" were  a  race  of  giants,  and 
Og,  king  of  Bashan,  their  last  king, 
had  an  iron  bedstead  nine  yards  in 
length,  and  four  in  breadth.  The 
territory  of  Og  included  sixty  forti- 
fied cities.  To  the  west  of  the  Jor- 
dan they  also  occupied  a  fertile  plain 
to  the  southwest  of  Jerusalem,  called 
"  the  valley  of  the  Rephaim."  They 
may  have  settled  hereabouts  after 
his  defeat  by  the  confederate  kings, 
(ch.  15  :  20.)  They  are  thought  by 
some  to  have  been  a  race  of  aborig- 
inal inhabitants  of  the  land,  prior  to 
the  Canaanites,  and  not  referred  to 
in  the  chapter  of  nations.  Yet  this 
is  by  no  means  necessary  to  be  sup- 
posed. *j[  The  Zuzim.  These  were 
the  next  of  the  conquered  tribes. 
They  were  akin  to  the  former,  wild 
and  savage,  living  between  the  riv- 
ers Arnon  and  Jabbok.  They  were 
afterwards  driven  out  by  the  Am- 
monites, in  whose  language  they 
were  called  Zamznmmims,  Deut. 
2 :  20,  21.  Their  chief  town  seems 
to  have  been  called  Ham,  but  its  lo- 
cality is  not  known,  but  somewhere 
in  what  was  afterwards  the  Ammon- 
ite territory.  Hence  Tucli  conjec- 
tures that  Ham  is  here  only  another 
form  of  the  name  of  the  chjef  strong- 
hold of  the  children  of  Arn-mon, 
which  was  Rabbah,  now  Am-ma.n. 
The  Sept.  and  Vulg.,  by  a  slight 
change  in  the  Hebrew  vowels,  read, 
"  with  them,"  and  "  the  Zuzim  along 
with  them."  If  The  Emims.  These 
were  also  of  the  race  of  Rephaim,  a 
numerous  and  formidable  horde  of 
Ciants,   the  terror  of  the   country, 


dwelling  south  of  the  Ainon,  in  the 
district  afterwards  allotted  to  the 
tribe  of  Reuben.  They  were  driven 
out  by  the  Moabites  before  Moses' 
time.  Their  chief  abodes  were  in 
the  valley  of  Kiriathaim  (or  of  the 
two  cities,)  also  called  "  the  valley 
of  Shaveii,"  (vs.  17.)  The  Sept. 
reads,  "  In  the  city  Shaveh."  ^f  And 
the  Horites.  These  were  the  moun- 
taineers and  dwellers  in  caves,  and 
Mount  Hor,  on  the  edge  of  the  land 
of  Edom,  is  here  called  "their  moun- 
tain." It  was  a  stronghold,  close  to 
the  far-famed  rock  city  of  Petra, 
where  the  dwellings  are  elaborately 
excavated  in  the  rocks.  Aaron  died 
on  this  mountain  peak.  The  Ho- 
rites are  called  "  the  sons  of  Seir"  as 
well  from  their  descent,  as  from 
their  dwelling  in  "  the  mountains  of 
Seir,"  of  which  Mount  Hor  is  a  peak. 
These  dwellers  in  the  rocks  are  re- 
ferred to  in  the  Scriptures.  They 
are  thought  to  have  been  a  Sem- 
itic tribe,  the  aboriginal  inhabitants 
of  Mount  Seir,  afterwards  absorbed 
into  the  Edomites.  Indeed  all  these 
— "  the  Rephaim,  Zuzim,  Emim,  and 
Horites,  as  well  as  the  Perizzites, 
are  the  undeniable  traces  of  a  Sem- 
itic population  before  and  along  with 
the  Canaanites.  The  language  of 
Heber  was  therefore  in  the  country 
before  the  Canaanites  arrived." 
Mount  Seir  commences  in  the  south 
of  Palestine,  near  the  foot  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  and  the  land  of  Moab,  and 
extends  southward  to  the  Elamitic 
Gulf.  %  To  the  oak  of  Par  an.  Heb 
El-paran.  The  terebinth  of  Paran 
Some  regard  this  as  Elath  on  the 
Red  Sea  —  (Tuch,  Enobel,  Winer, 
and  others) — a  place  of  commercial 
importance,  and  having  transactions 
with  Babylon  and  Shinar.  The 
conquering  chief,  after  he  had  smit- 
ten the  people  on  the  south  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  returned  round  its  south- 
west curve  to  the  "El  Paran,"  or 
"terebinth  of  Paran,"  indicating  a 
locality  in  connexion  with  the  wil- 
derness of  Paran,  and  yet  close  to 
the  Dead  Sea  border.  Between  tho 
i  land  of  Edom  and  Egypt  lies  tha 


250 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2016. 


5  And  in  the  fourteenth  year  came  Chedorlaomer,  and  the 
kings  that  were  with  him,  and  smote  s  the  Rephaims  h  in  Ashte- 
roth  Kara  aim,  and  •  the  Zuzims  in  Ham,  k  and  the  Emims  in  Sha- 
ven Kiriathaim, 

6  l  And  the  Horites  in  their  mount  Seir,  unto  El-paran,  which 
is  by  the  wilderness. 

7  And  they  returned,  and  came  to  En-mishpat,  which  is  Ka- 
desh,  and  smote  all  the  country  of  the  Amalekites,  and  also  the 
Amorites,  that  dwelt  min  Hazezon-tamar. 

8  And  there  went  out  the  king  of  Sodom,  and  the  king  of  Go- 
morrah, and  the  king  of  Adman,  and  the  king  of  Zeboiim,  and 
the  king  of  Bela,  (the  same  is  Zoar) ;  and  they  joined  battle  with 
them  in  the  vale  of  Siddim ; 


g  ch.  15  :  20  ;    Deut.  3:11.      h  Josh.  12  :  4 ;    13  :  12.      i  Deut,  2  :  20. 
1  Deut  2  :  12,  22.    m  2  Chron.  20 :  2. 


k  Deut.  2  :  10,  11. 


desert  of  Paran.  Beginning  south 
of  Beersheba  it  extends  to  the  desert 
of  Shur,  south  and  southwest,  three 
days'  journey  from  Mount  Sinai.  On 
its  northern  border,  and  near  to  the 
wilderness  of  Judah,  was  a  spot 
marked  by  an  oak,  or  terebinth,  and 
this  is  the  most  southwest  point  to 
which  the  allied  invaders  reached. 
The  Sept.  has  it  Pharan,  and  a 
trace  of  this  remains  in  the  Wady 
Feiran,  ch.  21 :  21 ;  Num.  12 :  16  ; 
13 :  3.  The  invading  hordes,  after 
sweeping  along  by  a  rapid  circuit  to 
the  very  edge  of  the  wilderness,  in 
order  to  cut  off  the  supplies  of  the 
five  kings,  and  to  subjugate  the  sur- 
rounding people,  from  whom  the 
rebels  might  have  received  help, 
came  round  at  length  upon  the 
cities  of  the  plain  to  reduce  them 
again  to  their  vassalage. 

7.  And  they  returned,  etc.  Cours- 
ing now  upwards  from  the  extreme 
circuit  of  Mount  Hor,  they  came  to 
Kadesh,  called  En  Mishpat,  or  "  the 
well  of  judgment."  See  Num.  20  :  10. 
The  town  was  probably  the  same  as 
Kadesh-barnea,  whence  Moses  sent 
scouts  for  exploring  the  bordering 
promised  land,  and  could  treat  with 
the  king  of  Edom  for  the  transit  of 
the  Hebrew  army  through  his  terri- 
tory. Kadesh  may  be  here  men- 
tioned to  bring  tho  narrative  into 


connexion  with  the  later  history, 
Num.  20  :  14.  «[  TJie  country  of  the 
Amalekites.  Heb.,  All  the  field  of  the 
Amalekites.  Sept.,  All  the  rulers  of 
Amalek.  This  country  lay  chiefly 
between  Palestine,  Idumea,  and 
Mount  Sinai.  The  course  of  the 
conquering  kings  was  along  the 
southern  border  of  Palestine,  and 
the  edge  of  the  desert  of  Sin  and 
Paran,  towards  Egypt.  See  ch. 
36  :  12  ;  Judg.  5  :  14  ;  12  :  15.  Ba- 
laam calls  Amalek  "the  beginning 
of  the  nations  (Gentiles),"  Num. 
24 :  20 ;  but  the  name  does  not  occur 
in  the  table  of  nations,  and  it  may 
mean  that  Amalek  was  the  first  to 
attack  Israel  on  their  coming  out  of 
Egypt.  The  invaders  pressed  on 
to  Hazezon-tamar,  cutting  of  the 
palms — which  is  Engedi,  2  Chron. 
20  :  2,  on  or  near  the  western  shore 
of  the  Dead  Sea,  a  settlement  of  the 
Amorites,  who  were  the  most  pow- 
erful tribe  of  Canaan.  This  was  al- 
ways an  important  point,  because 
behind  if  was  the  celebrated  pass  to 
Jerusalem,  called  Ziz,  (2  Chron. 
20 :  16.) 

8.  In  vs.  3  it  was  stated  already 
that  the  five  kings  had  joined  them- 
selves in  a  league  against  the  four 
allied  invaders.  And  here  it  is  fur- 
ther declared  that  they  went  forth 
to    battle    aerainst    them,   and  met 


B.  C.  2016.] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


251 


9  With  Chedorlaomer  the  king  of  Elam,  and  with  Tidal  king 
of  nations,  and  Amraphel  king  of  Shinar,  and  Arioch  king  of  El- 
lasar  ;  four  kings  with  five. 

10  And  the  vale  of  Siddim  teas  full  of  n  slime-pits;  and  the 
kings  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  fled,  and  fell  there :  and  they  that 
remained  fled  °  to  the  mountain. 

11  And  they  took  Pall  the  goods  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
and  all  their  victuals,  and  went  their  way. 

12  And  they  took  Lot,  Abram's  q  brother's  son, r  who  dwelt 
in  Sodom,  and  his  goods,  and  departed. 

n  ch.  11 :  3.     o  ch.  19  :  17,  30.    p.  vs.  16,  21.    q  ch.  12:5.     r  ch.  13  :  12. 


them  in  the  vale  of  Siddim.  The 
war  is  now  opened  in  the  district  oc- 
cupied by  the  cities  of  the  plain. 

9.  The  names  of  the  allies  are 
again  recited  here,  and  attention  is 
drawn  to  the  fact  that  there  were 
four  kings  in  battle  with  five. 

10.  The  character  of  the  country 
is  now  referred  to — most  dangerous 
indeed  for  war.  ^[  Vale  of  Siddim. 
Sept.,  Valley  of  Salt.  Vulg.,  Woody 
'Galley.  Onk.,  Valley  of  the  field. 
Sam.,  Valley  of  the  lot.  Syr.,  Valley 
of  the  Sodomites.  ^[  Full  of  slime-pits. 
Heb.,  Pits— pits  of  slime — Asphalt 
pits — mineral  pitch.  Holland's  Pliny 
speaks  of  it  thus  :  "  The  very  clam- 
my slime  Bitumen,  which  at  certain 
times  of  the  year  floateth  and  swim- 
meth  upon  the  Lake  of  Sodom,  call- 
ed Asphaltites  in  Jury  " — "  in  some 
places  in  manner  of  a  muddy  slime, 
in  others  very  earth  or  mineral/' 
The  Arabs  still  call  these  pits  by  the 
name  of  biaret  hummar,  which  strik- 
ingly resembles  the  Hebrew  phrase 
here  —  beeroth  chemar.  Along  the 
western  shore  of  the  sea  in  1851,  we 
found  lumps  of  this  black  bitumen 
along  with  pure  sulphur.  (See  ch. 
18,  notes.)  These  pits  are  springs  of 
semi-liquid  bitumen,  making  a  mire 
of  the  pitchy  substance ;  and  of  course 
where  they  are  concealed  under 
the  surface,  they  are  most  effective 
traps  to  such  as  cannot  avoid  them. 
These  pits  were  also  excavated  for 
the  supply  of  the  bitumen  as  mor- 
tar for  building.  Ordinarily,  these 
would  have  furnished  a  safeguard 


against  the  invading  foe.  But  in 
this  case  they  served  as  a  snare  to 
the  kings  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 
In  their  confused  flight  they  fell 
into  these  pits,  and  were  routed, 
crippled,  and  destroyed.  ^[  They 
that  remained  fled  into  the  moun- 
tains eastward,  which  run  through 
the  territory  of  the  Moabites.  Thus 
the  five  kings  were  utterly  routed. 
The  disaster  which  befel  the  two 
most  powerful  of  them — falling  into 
the  pits — produced  a  panic,  as  would 
seem,  among  the  remainder,  result- 
ing in  their  flight.  The  invaders 
advanced  now  from  the  westward 
flank,  and  thus  cut  off  their  escape 
to  the  mountains  of  Judah. 

11.  The  victorious  allies  plunder- 
ed the  territory  and  homes  of  the 
chief  revolting  cities,  took  all  their 
goods,  and  all  their  provender ;  and 
from  this  successful  foray  returned 
with  the  spoils  of  victory,  carrying 
away  equivalents  for  the  tributes 
withheld.  "  Fulness  of  bread  "  was 
part  of  their  sin,  Ezek.  16  :  49,  and 
now  they  suffer  in  their  stores.  God 
will  strike  at  men's  sins  in  His  wise 
and  just  judgments,  and  He  will 
also  strike  them  in  the  tenderest 
point.  The  Sept.  reads,  tjjv  lirirov, 
which  means  goods,  substance,  as 
well  as  cavalry. 

12.  We  are  now  introduced  to  the 
graver  outrage  committed  by  these 
invaders.  They  had  taken  with 
them  not  only  spoils,  but  captives; 
and  chief  among  these  was  Lot,  the 
kinsman  of  Abram — the  recent  set- 


252 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2016. 


13  *[  And  there  came  one  that  had  escaped,  and  told  Abram 
the  Hebrew ;  for  s  he  dwelt  in  the  plain  of  Mamre  the  Arnorite, 
brother  of  Eshcol,  and  brother  of  Aner:  *and  these  were  confed- 
erate with  Abram. 

14  And  when  Abram  heard  that  u  his  brother  was  taken 
captive,  he  armed  his  trained  servants,  w  born  in  his  own 
house,  three  hundred  and  eighteen,  and  pursued  them  xunto 
Dan. 


8  ch.  13  :  18.      t  vs.  24. 
34  :  1 ;  Judg.  18  :  29. 


u  ch.  13  :  8.      w  ch.  15  :  3  ;  17  :  12,  27  ;    Ecclea.  2:7.     x  Dent. 


tier  upon  this  "well  watered"  dis- 
trict— the  nian  of  God,  who  in  a 
worldly  policy,  cast  his  lot  here  with 
the  wicked,  for  he  was  dwelling  in 
Sodom,  alas!  Prov.  13:20.  They 
not  only  carried  away  his  property, 
but  himself  and  the  women  and  peo- 
ple, (vs.  16.)  And  it  was  the  news 
of  this  fact  which  would  now  in- 
volve Abram  in  the  war,  and  which 
led  to  all  the  triumphant  issues.  It 
does  not  seem  that  Lot  had  taken 
part  in  the  revolt,  or  in  the  war  ; 
but  as  a  prominent  man  there,  his 
capture  may  have  been  deemed  the 
more  important.  So  Lot  is  taught 
a  lesson  of  the  mischief  which  springs 
from  evil  associations — from  consort- 
ing with  evil  men,  or  even  dwelling 
among  them.  How  he  vexed  his 
righteous  soul  from  day  to  day  with 
their  ungodly  deeds,  and  now  is  the 
severe  sufferer  even  in  his  worldly 
interests,  which  he  too  much  sought 
to  promote.  "Finding  him  among 
the  rebels,  will  the  conquerors  be 
apt  to  hear  or  to  believe  that  he  is 
innocent  of  the  rebellion?  Having 
been  so  unjust  to  himself,  can  he 
look  for  justice  from  them?" — Cand- 
lish. 

13.  A  fugitive  from  this  invading 
and  victorious  host,  a  refugee,  came 
and  told  Abram,  the  Hebrew.  The 
term  "Hebrew"  is  here  first  used. 
It  is  from  the  verb  that  means  to 
pass  over  (avar,  whence  our  English 
word  over,)  and  as  an  appellative,  it 
means  one  of  the  sons  of  Heber.  The 
S:pt.  translates  it  by  TrepaT^r — the 
one  passing  over — as  having  crossed 


the  Euphrates  from  the  East.  But 
this  was  true  also  of  the  others  who 
were  not  Hebrews.  The  patrony- 
mic is  given  here  to  show  his  con- 
nexion with  Lot,  and  his  relation  to 
the  people,  already  known '  in  the 
land  as  the  sons  of  Heber,  and  de- 
scendants of  Shem.  Abram  was  re- 
siding at  the  oak-grove  of  Mamre 
the  Amorite,  and  so  he  was  near  the 
seat  of  war.  The  brothers  of  Mamre 
— Eshcol  and  Aner — were  in  league 
with  Abram  for  defence.  Heb.,  lords 
of  covenant.  They  were  rich  chief- 
tains, having  also  trained  men  at 
command. 

14.  Abram  moved  promptly  at  the 
news  of  Lot's  capture;  for  though 
his  kinsman  had  separated  himself 
from  him,  it  was  at  Abram's  sugges- 
tion of  expediency,  and  Lot  had  suf- 
fered grievously  by  parting  from  the 
religious  privileges  of  Abram's  circle. 
The  patriarch  therefore  makes  no 
delay  now  that  he  finds  Lot  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  wicked  invaders, 
but  he  led  forth  (to  battle)  his  tried 
ones — trained  and  skilful  and  trusty 
— born  in  his  own  house — and  thus 
well  known  and  confidential  house 
servants  and  body-guard — three  hun- 
dred and  eighteen,  answering  to  more 
than  a  thousand  men,  women,  and 
children,  with  flocks  and  herds  of 
corresponding  extent.  What  was 
the  force  of  his  allies  does  not  ap- 
pear. This  large  number  of  slaves 
in  Abram's  house,  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms,  gives  us  an  insight  into 
the  patriarchal  household.  These 
slaves  were  originally  such  as  were 


B.  C.  2016.1 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


253 


15  And  he  divided  himself  against  them,  he  and  his  servants 
by  night,  and  y  smote  them,  and  pursued  them  unto  Hobah, 
which  is  on  the  left  hand  of  Damascus. 

y  Isa.  41  :  2,  3. 


taken  in  war,  or  bought  with  money. 
Many  were  also  born  in  the  house, 
and  trained  in  the  doctrines  and 
duties  of  religion,  and  admitted  to 
the  privileges  of  circumcision  and 
the  Sabbath,  and  treated  as  a  relig- 
ious charge.  "Abram  commanded 
his  children  and  his  household  after 
him,  that  they  might  keep  the  way 
of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judg- 
ment, that  the  Lord  might  bring 
upon  Abram  all  that  He  had  prom- 
ised." ^[  Pursued  them  till  (unto) 
Dan.  The  opponents  of  the  Mosaic 
authorship  refer  to  this  verse  to 
show  a  later  hand,  comparing  it 
with  Josh.  19  :  47,  and  Judg.  18  :  29. 
But  it  is  plain  that  Dan  and  Paneas 
were  not  two  names  for  the  same 
place,  but  different  towns,  four  miles 
apart ;  the  one  at  the  western,  the 
other  at  the  eastern  source  of  the 
Jordan.  The  former  anciently  called 
Lettish  or  Leshem,  lying  in  the  valley 
towards  Be'hrehol,  (Judg.  18:29,) 
now  called  Tel  el  Kadi,  (Kadi  being 
same  as  Dan — judge)  —  the  latter 
called  Paneas,  or  Banias.  This 
would  be  on  the  line  of  the  road. 
The  name  Dan  is  here  found  in  the 
Sam.,  Sept.,  and  Onk.  versions.  It 
might  be  supposed  to  have  been 
altered  by  a  revising  hand.  But 
the  custom  in  such  cases  was  rather 
to  add  the  other  name,  without  al- 
tering the  original.  And  we  may 
rather  suppose  that  the  name  Dan, 
like  Hebron,  was  in  use  at  the  time 
of  Abram.  Some  suppose  that  Dan, 
originally  held  by  a  Hebrew,  was 
afterwards  called  Laish  by  the  Si- 
donians,  into  whose  hands  it  fell 
(Judg.  18)  and  subsequently  received 
its  original  name  again.  Smith's 
Bib.  Die.  gives  another  view. 

15.  Divided  himself  against  them. 
That  is,  he  so  arranged  his  forces  as 
to  fall  upon  them  at  different  points 


— probably  at  both  flanks  and  centre 
at  once.  This  was  the  common  mode 
of  attack.  This  was  done  at  night. 
The  Sept.  reads,  He  fell  upon  them. 
1"  He  and  his  servants.  Abram  may 
have  attacked  them  with  his  force 
at  one  point,  and  his  allies  at  an- 
other. %  Defeated  them.  Heb., 
Smote  them — victoriously.  *[  Hobah 
is  here  located  on  the  left  of  Damas- 
cus, which,  according  to  the  Hebrew 
mode  of  describing  the  points  of  the 
compass,  is  north  of  Damascus,  the 
face  being  supposed  to  be  towards 
the  rising  sun.  «|[  Damascus.  This 
most  ancient  capital  city  is  here  first 
mentioned,  and  again  in  ch.  15  :  2. 
No  city  has  retained  such  a  popula- 
tion and  prosperity  through  so  many 
years.  We  approached  it  from  the 
southwest.  Leaving  Banias  and  its 
fine  olive-groves,  and  Hermon,  with 
its  summit  of  snowy  ridges,  we  Game 
by  a  most  stony  and  uncomfortable 
road  to  "  the  plain  of  Damascus " 
the  next  day.  The  cold  chill  of  the 
air  was  distressing,  with  high  winds. 
The  plain  was  disappointing  as  to 
its  reputed  fertility  and  beauty. 
But  this  is  the  more  unfavorable 
point  of  approach  to  the  city.  In 
some  parts  the  grass  was  bright 
(April  19),  and  the  grapevine  grow- 
ing finely,  but  for  the  most  part  it 
was  a  dreary,  barren  waste.  We 
looked  in  vain  for  "  the  sea  of  ver- 
dure" which  Lamartine  speaks  of. 
But  within  half-  an  hour  of  the  city 
the  grand  oasis  burst  suddenly  upon 
us,  and  an  immense  circuit  of  green 
opened  to  view,  and  we  were  ushered 
at  once  from  the  desert  into  a  most 
verdant  garden  of  apricots  and  figs, 
in  fruit,  but  unripe.  The  two  chief 
rivers  which  flow  rapidly  through 
the  vale  below  the  street  level,  and 
part  into  four  streams,  with  divers 
branches,  are  the  Barada  (r>robabl> 


254 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2016 


16  And  he  brought  back  zall  the  goods,  and  also  brought 
again  his  brother  Lot,  and  his  goods,  and  the  women  also,  and 
the  people. 

z  vs.  11,  12. 


the  "Abana,"  mentioned  by  Xaa- 
man)  and  the  Aicaj — probably  the 
Pharpar  —  though  another,  the 
Wady  Helbon,  also  contends  for  the 
succession.  These  streams  are  so 
clear,  and  flow  through  such  rich 
garden  plots  and  fields  of  corn,  and 
groves  of  walnut  and  apricot,  that 
we  could  not  wonder  at  the  Syrian 
captain  preferring  these  to  the  mud- 
dy Jordan  for  an  ablution.  We 
were  cheered  by  the  beautiful,  lux- 
uriant lawns  on  either  side  of  a 
rushing  river — noble  trees  of  oak, 
elm,  and  poplar  skirting  the  road, 
and  aqueducts  with  fountains  along 
the  streets,  furnishing  ample  sup- 
plies of  water  to  the  city  and  to  the 
traveller.  Passing  through  this  ru- 
ral suburb,  bordering  the  city  with 
its  deep  fringe  of  green,  we  came 
upon  the  narrow,  filthy  streets,  pav- 
ed ;  found  the  richest  bazaars  we  had 
yet  seen,  stored  with  all  merchan- 
dises of  the  East,  and  were  conduct- 
ed to  " the  street  called  Straight"  (as 
it  really  is)  where  the  apartments 
were  already  crowded.  We  were, 
however,  handsomely  quartered  in  a 
private  house  hard  by,  and  for  the 
time  of  our  sojourn  in  the  city,  were 
treated  with  *  the  full  oriental  ac- 
commodations. The  divans  for  our 
beds,  and  the  quiet  and  neatness  | 
were  very  refreshing,  instead  of  the 
tumult  and  annoyance  of  a  crowded  j 
hotel.  The  streets  and  courts,  how- ! 
ever,  were  constantly  blockaded  with 
the  lazy  dogs  lying  everywhere  in 
your  path.  From  the  gate  of  the 
city  to  our  house,  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile,  we  counted  eighty  of  these 
dogs  which  so  infest  the  city — 
"  dumb  dogs,  that  will  not  bark," 
(Isa.  56  :  tOT—  except  at  night,  to  dis- 
turb ones'  slumber.  The  window 
where  Paul  was  let  down  by  the 
wall   in    a    basket    is  pointed    out 


(surely  in  that  direction)  an  opening 
in  the  wall ;  and  outside  of  the  citj 
gate  a  large  rock  is  shown,  where 
tradition  has  located  the  scene  of 
Saul's  conversion.  We  passed  a 
huge  sycamore,  which  I  measured, 
and  found  its  girth  forty-two  feet. 
The  overhanging  hills,  which  we 
ascended  on  our  way  across  the 
Lebanon,  furnished  a  view  of  the 
city  which  is  utterly  beyond  descrip- 
tion. The  thirty  miles'  circuit  of 
verdure,  girt  by  a  desert,  the  silver 
courses  of  the  rivers,  set  in  emerald 
green,  the  glistening  domes,  and 
twenty  or  thirty  towering  minarets  ; 
the  chief  mosque  and  college  of  Der- 
vishes spreading  out  in  the  midst 
like  the  figure  nine  horizontally,  and 
the  great  city  enveloped  in  its  rich 
drapery,  like  a  fairy  island  in  a  sea 
of  verdure.  We  learned  from  one 
of  the  resident  missionaries  that  the 
population  is  not  over  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand.  The  Jews  are 
reckoned  at  five  thousand,  with  seven 
synagogues,  and  very  many  families 
of  great  wealth.  At  Kefr  Haica,  the 
day  before  reaching  Damascus,  we 
came  upon  a  very  fine  ruin,  and 
asking  one  of  the  old  men  about  it, 
he  answered  "  Namrud."  I  asked 
him  who  built  it .  He  said  "  Na  m  r  ud 
(Ximrod)  for  himself,"  and  that  his 
tomb  was  away  on  the  hill  adjacent. 
16.  And  he  brought  lack — recover- 
ed,— restored  all  the  goods  (same  term 
as  before,  vs.  12.)  The  Sept.  adds, 
"of  the  Sodomites."  *[  His  own 
brother  Lot.  Here  called  "  Ids  broth- 
er," but  heretofore  "  his  brother's 
son,"  vs.  12,  according  to  the  com- 
mon Hebrew  idiom,  which  uses  the 
term  brother  for  kinsman.  If  And 
the  women.  It  woidd  hence  appear 
that  the  invaders  had  taken  captive 
the  women  also,  making  thoir  raid 
more  infamous. 


B.  C.  2016.] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


255 


17  *T  An^  the  king  of  Sodom  a  went  out  to  meet  him  (b  after 
his  return  from  the  slaughter  of  Chedorlaomer,  and  of  the  kings 
that  were  with  him,)  at  the  valley  of  Shaven,  which  is  the  c  king's 
dale. 

18  And  d  Melchizedek  king  of  Salem  brought  forth  bread  aud 
wine :  and  he  was  the  e  priest  of  f  the  most  high  God. 

a  Judg.  11  :  34;  1  Sam.  IS  :  6.     b  Heb.  7  : 1.     c  2  Sam.  13  :  13.     d  Heb.  T  :  1.     ePs.  110:4; 
Heb.  5:6.     f  Mic.  6:6;  Acts  16:17;  Ruth  3  :  10 ;  2  Sam.  2  :  5. 

I  phus    also    speaks    of   "  the  kings' 
:  vale "  as  being  two  furlongs  from 
the    city.      If   so,   Abram   returned 
probably  by  way  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
Patter    Erd. —  Williams'  Holy    City. 
Before  the  narrative  is  completed  in 
;  reference  to  the  king  of  Sodom,  (see 
;  vs.  21-23)  the  king  of  Salem  is  in- 
troduced. 

18.  Melchizedek.    This  Heb.  name 
\  means    "  King    of    RigJdeousness." 
This  is  dwelt  upon  in  Paul's  argu- 
ment (Heb.  7)  where  he  shows  that 
this  mysterious  and   sacred  official 
personage  was  a  type  of  Christ  in 
many  striking  particulars,  and  that 
this  whole   transaction  of  Abram's 
tithing  to  him,  and  of  his  blessing 
Abram,  was  typical  of  the  relations 
subsisting  between  the  old  economy 
i  of  grace  and  the  new,  and  of  Christ's 
official    functions   as   King — Priest, 
;  after  the  order  of  Melchizedec,  (Pea. 
I  110  :  4.)    (1.)  Here  was  a  royal  priest- 
hood existing  in  Canaan,  the  trace 
of  a  Divinely  appointed  ministry  in 
|  that  heathen  land  prior  to  the  Le- 
!  vitical  institutions,  just  as  there  was 
the  Sabbath  prior  to  the  giving  of 
I  the  Decalogue,  and  which  therefore 
j  could  not  be  abrogated  by  the  pass- 
ing away  of  the  Levitical  economy. 
J  Here  is  a  high  functionary  of  God, 
who  appears  as  a  representative  of  a 
gracious  remnant  in   this  heathen 
land,  and  stretches  the  hand  to  this 
I  rising  man  of  faith,  and  head  of  the 
j  faithful.     (2.)  Thus  the  substantial 
oneness  of  the  Patriarchal  and  Le- 
vitical systems  is  set  forth — for  the 
Leviticai  priesthood  was  in  the  loins 
of  Abram  (as  the  ancestor  of  Levi) 
when  Melchizedek  met  him,  (Heb. 
7  :  10.)    (3.)  Melchizedek  is  the  rep- 


17.  And  the  king  of  Sodom.  Abram 
now  is  to  be  presented  in  his  trium- 
phant faith,  which  wrought  with 
his  works,  and  which  by  his  works 
was  made  perfect,"  (Jas.  3  :  22.)  His 
relation  to  the  king  of  Sodom  is  to 
be  set  forth  in  contrast  with  his  re- 
lation to  the  king  of  Salem.  He 
will  be  found  to  be  "  strong  in  faith, 
giving  glory  to  God,"  and  not  tak- 
ing the  glory  to  himself.  He  will 
show  his  superiority  to  mere  worldly 
honors  and  emoluments,  by  declin- 
ing the  proffer  of  the  ungodly  mam- 
mon. He  will  show  that  his  aims 
were  higher  than  the  mere  temporal 
possessions,  and  that  the  heathen 
wealth  of  the  Canaanites  could  not 
be  accepted  in  return  for  his  victori- 
ous deeds,  as  it  was  to  become  his 
by  virtue  of  a  covenant  grant. 
"  Lest  thou  shouldest  say,  I  have 
made  Abram  rich."  Noble,  heroic 
triumph  of  faith.  *~  The  valley  of  Sha- 
teh.  The  term  Shaveh  means  valley 
or  dale.  In  vs.  5  it  occurs  with  the 
name  of  a  town  or  group  of  towns. 
(Kirjathaim  —  double  city.)  And 
here  it  is  of  obscure  and  uncertain 
reference.  "  The  valley  of  the  king  " 
is  mentioned  again,  2  Sam.  18 :  18, 
as  the  site  of  a  pillar  which  Absa- 
lom set  up.  It  is  supposed  by  some 
that  this  valley  of  the  king  was  an 
open,  broad  valley  to  the  north  of 
Jerusalem,  which  would  be  on  the 
route  of  Abram's  return  from  the 
conquest  of  the  kings.  The  Sept. 
reads.  "  This  is  the  field  of  the  king*" 
'  But  it  is  more  commonly  held  to  be 
the  same  as  the  valley  of  Kedron,, 
where  tradition  has  long  located  the 
tomb  of  Absalom,  and  where  a  lo- 
cality still  bears   the  name.     Jose- 


256 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2015. 


resentative  of  universality  prior  to 
the  particularism  of  the  Mosaic  rit- 
ual, and  as  such,  dwelling  among 
the  heathen,  he  is  a  type  of  the 
great  Pauline  and  normal  idea  of 
the  church,  as  universal,  emhracing 
all  nations  and  people ;  and  so  he 
looms  up  in  the  history  as  a  strik- 
ing type  of  Christ.  He  therefore  in 
blessing  Abram  just  at  this  crisis, 
when  the  more  universal  is  to  give 
place  to  the  more  restricted  and  par- 
ticular, shows  that  the  particularism 
now  contemplated  in  Abram,  is  only 
in  order  to  a  universality.  (4.)  As  a 
representative  and  remnant,  perhaps, 
of  the  pre-Canaanitish  occupants  of 
the  promised  land,  he  was  a  living 
testimony  to  the  promised  blessing 
upon  Shem,  endorsing  over  to  Abram, 
the  primitive  religion,  just  as  he 
himself  vanishes  from  history.  Like 
as  Nicodemus  gives  his  testimony  to 
Christ,  a  ruler  of  the  Jews  certifying 
to  the  claims  of  the  great  Comer, 
only  with  yet  dim  and  imperfect 
conceptions  of  the  true,  so  here. 
Melchizedek  falls  short  of  the  full 
idea  of  God,  and  seems  not  to  have 
attained  to  the  Gospel  idea  of  Him, 
as  Jehovah  and  Redeemer.  And  so 
we  find  Abram  adding  this  chief, 
significant  title,  Jehovah  (the  Lord) 
to  that  which  Melchizedek  uses, 
(compare  vss.  19  &  22.)  So  the  aged 
Simeon,  who  had  long  waited  for 
the  consolation  of  Israel,  took  the 
infant  Jesus  in  his  arms  in  the  tem- 
ple— "  the  last  patriarch  and  prophet 
of  the  law  hailing  the  new-born 
hope  of  the  Gospel,  and  then  depart- 
ing— the  lingering  twilight  of  de- 
clining day  mingling  with  the  dawn 
of  a  better  morn."  Melchizedec  was 
"  the  last  remaining  flower  of  a 
passing  development  —  Abram  the 
germ  and  commencement  of  a  new, 
more  promising,  and  hopeful  one." 
Or  like  John  the  Baptist,  who  had 
not  fully  introduced  the  Gospel  plan, 
but  had  led  only  to  the  edge  of  the 
wilderness,  he  yet  sees  that  there 
cometh  one  after  him  mightier  than 
he  —  Abram,  and  Abram's  Divine 
cseed.     And  as  the  last  preserver,  as 


it  were,  of  the  patriarchal  hope,  he 
hands  over  his  function  to  one  more 
highly  favored  than  himself — one 
who  had  subdued  the  kings  under 
him,  (Ps.  110 :  5),  as  a  type  of  the 
coming  King  of  kings,  and  who  had 
in  his  loins  the  entire  Levitical 
priesthood.  Melchizedek  seems  like 
the  Baptizer  to  be  saying,  "  He  must 
increase,  but  I  must  decrease,"  John 
3  :  30.  Abram  also  sees  Christ's  day 
in  Melchizedek,  and  so  the  patri- 
archal and  the  Levitical  dispensa- 
tions exchange  signals  in  reference 
to  the  better  covenant  to  come,  and 
confess  their  shadowy  and  subordi- 
nate nature,  "  that  Christ  may  be  all 
in  all."  The  argument  of  Paul  in 
the  Hebrews  to  show  the  superiority 
of  the  Gospel  dispensation  above  the 
Levitical,  is  grounded  on  the  pro- 
phetic passage,  Ps.  110  :  4.  He 
shows,  ch.  7:1,  the  greatness  of  this 
Melchizedek  as  King  of  righteous- 
ness, and  King  of  peace,  and  con- 
structively eternal  —  "likened  unto 
the  Son  of  God  " — his  kingdom,  like 
that  of  the  Messiah,  being  founded  on 
his  moral  attributes,  (Ps.  72.)  (1.) 
He  does  not  receive  the  priesthood 
from  an  ancestral  line,  nor  transmit 
it  as  the  Levitical  priests  did,  ac- 
cording to  descent,  vs.  5,  but  receives 
his  priesthood  immediately  by  Di- 
vine constitution,  and  after  the  power 
of  an  endless  life.  (2.)  He  received 
tithes,  not  according  to  the  statute, 
as  if  one  of  a  priestly  establishment, 
but  outside  of  the  law,  and  above  it, 
he  received  tithe3  from  him  who  had 
the  promises,  vss.  5,  6,  who  thus 
plainly  acknowledges  his  superic  ▼ 
ity.  (3.)  By  receiving  his  blessing, 
Abram  showed  the  superiority  of  this 
official  personage,  (vs.  7.)  (4.)  In 
case  of  the  Le.vitical  order,  there  is  a 
succession  necessarily,  because  of 
their  being  mortal,  but  there  is  no 
succession  in  the  case  of  this  type  of 
the  Messiah.  It  is  witnessed  that 
He  Uveth,  (vs.  8,)  showing  that  that 
.order  was  provisional,  and  this  Mel- 
chizedek order  is  permanent.  (5.) 
The  fact  is,  that  Levi  paid  tithes  (in 
Abram)  to  Melchizedek,  because  the 


B.  C.  2016.] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


857 


whole  Levitical  priesthood  was  in 
Abram's  loins  at  the  time,  (vss.  9, 10,) 
and  thus  it  was  acknowledged  that 
here  was  a  higher  priesthood.  (6.) 
All  which  shows  clearly  that  the 
Levitical  priesthood  is  imperfect,  as 
also  appears  from  the  rising  up  of 
another  priest,  not  Aaronic,  but 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedek.  (7.) 
This  imperfection  of  the  priesthood 
implies  an  imperfection  in  the  Mo- 
saic statute,  which  was  framed  for 
the  religious  interest.  The  Levitical 
priesthood  was  of  temporary  use, 
and  therefore  instituted  without  an 
oath,  and  not  meant  to  be  perma- 
nent, only  pointing  to  the  higher 
priest  to  come,  who  is  King  as  well  as 
Priest,  and  confirmed  in  his  eternal 
kingdom  and  priesthood  by  the  oath 
of  God.  Thus  the  apostle  shows  the 
significance  of  this  Melchizedek  in 
the  history  of  God's  gracious  dispen- 
sations, as  forerunner  and  foreshad- 
ower  of  the  priesthood  of  Christ,  as 
a  King-Priest,  who  sits  "a  Priest 
upon  his  throne,"  (Zech.  6  :  13,) 
and  who  effects  "the  counsel  of 
peace  "  between  both  God  and  man, 
and  between  the  Old  and  "New  Tes- 
tament economies,  "  breaking  down 
the  middle  wall  of  partition,"  and 
"  abolishing  in  His  flesh  the  enmi- 
ty," (Eph.  2 :  14,  15.)  It  has  been 
held  by  some  that  "  Melchizedek " 
was  only  the  title  of  some  well 
known  personage  in  the  history. 
The  Jews  Targum  and  Pseud.  Jon. 
read,  "  Shem."  Josephus  adds,  "  A 
ruler  of  the  Canaanites."  But  (1.) 
The  description  given  by  the  apostle 
(Heb.  7)  does  not  answer  to  Shem. 
(2.)  There  seems  no  reason  why  the 
name  of  Shem  should  not  be  used  if 
he  were  meant.  (3.)  But  the  argu- 
ment of  the  apostle  about  the  priest- 
hood paying  tithes  in  Abram  would 
fail  if  Melchizedek  were  Shem,  for 
then  Levi  was  also  in  his  loins,  and 
paid  tithes  therefore  to  himself. 
Much  less  supposable  is  it  that  Mel- 
chizedek was  the  Angel  of  the  Cove- 
nant, the  Son  of  God,  for  he  is  said 
to  have  been  "  made  like  unto  the  Son 
of  God;'  (Heb.  7:3.)    1  King  of  Sa- 


lem. This  Salem  is  commonly  sup- 
posed to  be  Jerusalem,  which  is  else- 
where so  called,  Ps.  76  :  2,  and  which 
is  the  ancient  Jewish  tradition.  Jews' 
Targ.  Onk.  Ps.  Jon.  The  name  Salem 
means  peace.  Some  identify  it  with 
Salim,  near  Arnon,  where  John  was 
baptizing,  John  3 :  23.  (2.)  Jerusalem 
lay  on  the  road  between  Damascus 
and  Abram's  residence  at  Hebron. 
(3.)  The  typical  relations  between 
Melchizedek  and  our  Lord  seem  to 
require  that  besides  name,  office,  and 
person,  there  should  be  also  locality. 
(4.)  Under  the  supposition  that  Sa- 
lem was  Jerusalem,  we  see  why  the 
king  of  Sodom  went  to  meet  Abram 
there.  Not  only  was  the  division  ot 
the  spoil  to  be  made  in  the  presence 
of  the  great  chieftain,  who  received 
a  tenth,  but  the  point  was  gained 
from  which  Lot  and  the  other  cap- 
tives, separating  from  Abram,  would 
now  return  to  Sodom  with  the  king. 
Whereas,  it  is  most  improbable,  as 
Winer  says,  that  the  king  of  Sodom 
would  go  out  half  way  to  Damascus 
to  meet  the  patriarch,  when,  on  this 
supposition,  Abram  was  travelling 
along  the  Jordan  to  Sodom.  (5.) 
The  narrative  seems  to  imply  that 
some  important  point  in  the  home- 
ward journey  was  reached.  The 
language  is  not  "  while  returning" 
but  "after  his  return."  (6.)  This 
name  Salem  seems  to  have  been  that 
by  which  Jerusalem  was  in  very 
early  times  known  to  the  Egyptians, 
as  monumental  records  show.  The 
name  was  afterwards  called  Jebus, 
because  when  the  power  of  the  pre- 
Canaanitish  tribes  was  broken,  the 
Jebusites  obtained  possession  of  the 
city,  and  gave  it  their  own  name. 
So  Gesenius,  Bitter,  Hengstciiberg, 
Kurtz,  Winer,  Knobel,  etc.  Some, 
as  Wolf,  take  the  name  to  be  only  a 
title,  "King  of  Peace."  But  the 
apostle  in  the  Hebrews  gives  this  as 
the  interpretation  of  the  title,  and 
not  the*  title  itself. 

Observe. — Melchizedek  was,  prior 
to  Abram,  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  as 
a  representative  of  the  true  religion, 
and  a  functionary  of  the  public  wor 


258 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2016 


ship  of  God.  He  was  not  connected 
with  Abram's  call,  and  yet  he  is  ac- 
knowledged by  Abram  as  a  priest  of 
the  Most  High  God.  We  are,  there- 
fore, referred  back  to  the  Noachic 
covenant,  and  the  idea  of  universali- 
ty therein,  as  Noah  was  the  repre- 
sentative and  head  of  the  whole  race 
after  the  deluge.  That  covenant 
was  the  basis  of  Melchizedek's  tran- 
saction, and  it  was  extant  as  a  power 
in  the  land,  and  among  the  nations. 
The  Mosaic  economy  to  be  intro- 
duced through  Abram  was  paren- 
thetical and  temporary,  for  a  special 
training  of  the  people  in  the  land  of 
promise.  And  Melchizedek  reaches 
over  it  to  Christ,  in  whom,  through 
Abram,  all  the  nations  are  to  be 
blessed.  It  is,  therefore,  quite  sup- 
posable  that  Melchizedek  was  a 
Semitic  chieftain  in  the  land  of  Ca- 
naan. He  is  not  associated  with  the 
five  kings,  but  appears  as  isolated, 
and  in  this  combined  civil  and  sacer- 
dotal function,  he  stands  forth  as  the 
witness  to  the  truth  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  the  representative  of  the 
ordinances  of  public  worship,  such  as 
a  priesthood  for  sacrifice  and  inter- 
cession implies.  If  he  be  a  Canaan- 
ite,  then  his  case  is  an  impressive 
witness  to  the  preservation  and 
transmission  of  true  religion  among 
the  Gentiles,  just  as  Job  also,  in  an- 
other locality,  was  a  conveyancer  of 
the  truth  and  worship  of  God. 
"  And  from  the  hereditary  forms  of 
a  primitive  theology,  cherished  by 
intercourse  with  the  Sidonians  and 
other  Phenicians,  were  Homer,  Soc- 
rates, Plato,  Aristotle,  and  other  sages 
of  the  east  and  west,  enabled  to  rise 
to  the  exalted  conceptions  which 
they  occasionally  formed  of  the 
unity,  purity,  spirituality,  and  su- 
premacy of  the  Divine  Being.  Dur- 
ing the  four  centuries  that  elapsed 
from  the  arrival  of  Abram  to  the 
conquest  of  the  country  by  his  de- 
scendants, this  interesting  relic  of 
a  pure  Gentile  worship  seems  to 
have  disappeared.  But  the  traces 
of  such  a  purifying  and  elevating 
knowledge  of  God  were   not  even 


then  effaced  from  the  memories,  the 
customs,  and  the  phrases  of  the  peo- 
ple."— See  Murphy,  p.  329.  Melchiz- 
edek has  also  been  understood  by 
some  as  another  name  for  Noah, 
Enoch,  Ham,  or  an  angel,  but  with- 
out ground.  The  name  is  of  Semitic 
origin,  the  Hebrew  words  composing 
it  meaning  simply  "  King  of  right- 
eousness." The  tradition  is,  that 
Melchizedek  ministered  on  Mount 
Gerizim.  And  "  on  that  summit," 
(as  Stanley  remarks)  "  the  rough 
rock  smoothed  into  a  natural  altar 
is  the  only  spot  in  Palestine,  per- 
haps in  the  world,  that  has  never 
ceased  to  be  the  scene  of  sacrifice 
and  prayer.  So  the  Samaritans 
seem  to  have  entered  into  the  idea 
of  universality  for  the  church  ;  and 
though  they  received  only  the  Pen- 
tateuch, their  language  of  confession 
is,  that  Christ,  the  Messiah,  is  the 
Saviour  of  the  world,"  John  4  :  42. 
(See  notes.)  ^[  Bread  and  wine.  These 
are  significant  as  the  staple  elements 
for  refreshment  of  the  body.  Bread 
is  the  acknowledged  staff  of  life,  and 
hence  was  presented  in  the  holy  place 
of  the  tabernacle,  as  the  shew-bread,  or 
bread  of  the  presence.  And  since  it 
is  the  fruit  of  labor,  it  was  there  the 
showing  forth  of  the  works  of  the 
people,  Exod.  25  :  30  ;  Heb.  9  :  2, 
So  it  was  presented  at  the  Pentecost 
— the  loaves  representing  the  fruit  of 
the  gospel  work,  and  significant  of 
the  harvest  and  ingathering  of  the 
people.  And  so  the  wine  was  poured 
out  as  a  libation  at  the  daily  sacri- 
fice as  a  drink-offering  (Exod.  29  :  40,) 
also  at  the  presentation  of  the  first- 
fruits,  Lev.  23 :  13,  and  other  offer- 
ings, Num.  15  :  5.  The  use  of  wine 
at  the  Paschal  Feast  was  not  pre- 
scribed in  the  law,  but  had  grown 
up  into  the  custom,  Matt.  26  :  27-29. 
And  from  this  Old  Testament  ordi- 
nance it  passed  to  the  Lord's  Supper, 
by  Divine  institution,  and  its  signifi- 
cance in  the  latter  was  explained  as 
symbolical  of  the  blood-shedding  of 
Christ  for  sinners,  and  the  participa- 
tion of  it  as  an  element  of  the  Gos- 
pel feas.,  becomes  joyous  to  the  be- 


B.  C.  2016.]  CHAPTER  XIV.  259 

19  And  he  blessed  him,  and  said,  Blessed  be  Abram  of  the 
most  high  God,  S  possessor  of  heaven  and  earth. 

gvs.  22;  Matt  11 ;  25. 


lieving  soul,  John  6  :  48-58.  They 
iiad  a  meaning,  therefore,  in  the 
hands  of  Melchizedek,  and  in  this 
sacred,  official  transaction.  As  a 
priest,  he  offered  sacrifice  on  the 
part  of  others.  And  this  first  xien- 
tion  of  a  priest  in  the  Scripture 
shows  him,  as  in  a  priestly  act, 
bringing  forth  these  elements  of 
communication  and  communion  of 
the  bread  and  cup.  Abram  is  thus 
welcomed  to  a  share  in  the  sacred, 
sacramental  ceremonial,  and  wit- 
nessed to  as  having  a  right  to  that 
ancient  communion  of  saints.  This 
solitary  priest  hails  him  as  one 
whom  he  recognises  and  rejoices  in 
— as  the  head  of  the  faithful,  and 
the  triumphant  "  friend  of  God." 
"  He  refreshed  a  wearied  and  famish- 
ed army  with  royal  liberahty,  but 
because  he  was  a  priest,  he  blessed, 
by  the  rite  of  solemn  prayer,  the 
firstborn  Son  of  God,  and  the  Father 
of  the  church." — Calvin.  The  bread 
and  wine,  as  sacred  elements  of  re- 
ligious ceremonial,  typify  the  future 
theocracy.  Abram  had  now  an  il- 
lustration of  the  promise,  that  he 
was  to  be  a  blessing  to  all  nations 
and  families  of  the  earth,  both  Jew 
and  Gentile,  as  also  that  the  religion 
which  he  represented  would  save 
men  from  the  bondage  into  which 
they  were  carried  by  sin,  and  from 
all  their  enemies.  *§  And  he  (was) 
the  priest.  Heb.,  A  priest  to  the  Most 
High  God.  Public  worship  had 
been  solemnly  set  up  in  the  family 
of  Adam,  and  sacrifice  was  carried 
on  there  before  the  shekinah.  The 
great  leading  observances  were  prob- 
ably the  same  under  Melchizedek's 
priesthood  as  before  and  since.  The 
function  of  a  priest  was  not  only  to 
sacrifice,  but  to  intercede  for  the 
people,  and  he  must  be  called  of 
God,  as  was  Aaron,  and  have  some- 
what to  offer,  (Heb.  5  :  1-10.)  And 
the  office  of  priest  and  king  were 


united  afterwards  very  often  in  one 
person,  (Virg.  JEneid,  3.  80,  Creuzer, 
4.  405,)  but  preeminently  in  Christ 
Jesus,  by  Divine  appointment,  for 
the  salvation  of  men.  ^[  The  Most 
High  God.  Heb.,  El  Elyon.  This 
is  a  name  of  God  here  first  found 
in  the  Scripture.  El,  signifying 
strength,  is  the  base  of  the  name 
Elohim — the  original,  absolute  name 
of  God,  by  which  He  is  known  in  the 
history  of  the  creation,  and  appro- 
priate to  His  Creatorship.  This  is 
the  evidence  that  the  one  God  was 
worshipped,  as  a  testimony  against 
polytheism  and  idolatry,  as  the  liv- 
ing God,  omnipotent  and  supreme. 
And  this  was  done  formally,  public- 
ly, and  statedly  by  a  set  ministry, 
and  in  such  form  of  worship  as  ac- 
knowledged the  need  of  the  great 
blood-shedding  for  atonement,  and 
of  the  great  high  priesthood  to 
come. 

19.  He  blessed  him.  Melchizedek 
blessed  Abram.  He,  therefore,  acts 
in  a  priestly  capacity.  This  sacer- 
dotal act  of  his  is  that  which  is  so 
significant,  as  interpreted  by  the 
New  Testament,  "For  the  less  is 
blessed  of  the  better,"  (Heb.  7 :  7.) 
And  this  act  of  blessing  shows  that 
Melchizedek  is  the  better,  blessing 
Abram,  the  less.  And  Abram,  in  re- 
ceiving the  blessing,  admits  the  su- 
periority of  this  king-priest,  (Heb. 
7  :  7.)  Thus  Abram,  who  was  in  his 
capacity  as  a  conquering  sheikh,  rel- 
atively great,  does  at  the  very  acme 
of  his  greatness,  own  that  he  is  rela- 
tively little,  and  inferior  to  this  sa- 
cred personage.  The  friend  of  God, 
the  covenant  head  and  father  of  the 
faithful,  has  victory  granted  him  over 
kings,  and  is  thus  a  type  of  every  true 
Christian,  and  of  the  church  of  Christ 
on  the  earth,  while  he  expresses 
his  faith  and  religious  reverence 
and  obedience  by  paying  tithes  to 
the  accredited  functionary  of  God's 


GENESIS. 


TB.  C.  2016, 


20  And  h  blessed  be  the  most  high  God,  which  hath  delivered 
thine  enemies  into  thine  hand.     And  he  gave  him  tithes  *  of  all. 

hch.  24:27:    i  Heb.  7:4. 


worship.  The  key  to  this  mystery 
is,  that  both  these  personages  were 
types  of  Christ ;  and  their  meeting 
here  is  a  significant  confluence  of 
the  streams  of  prophecy  and  prom- 
ise, rushing  onward  to  the  destined 
consummation.  What  was  striking 
in  this  priest-king  is,  that  he  reigned 
in  the  metropolis  of  the  promised 
land,  "where  Abram's  seed  were 
destined  to  reign,  and  to  exercise  a 
priesthood,  which  in  future  genera- 
tions was  to  be  committed  to  them  ; 
and  thus  this  representative  of  the 
religious  interest  of  that  old  Salem 
gave  testimony  to  Abram,  as  to  one 
who  had  the  promises,  (Heb.  7 :  6.) 
Abram  having  just  saved  the  land 
of  promise  by  his  exploits,  this  king, 
not  of  the  federal  cities,  but  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  promised  land  it- 
self— the  prince  of  its  capital — ac- 
knowledges the  claims  which  the 
conqueror  had  established  in  a  strict- 
ly political  and  worldly  sense,  "  The 
temporal  and  spiritual  blessing  was 
thus  transferred  from  the  present 
ruler  of  the  capital  to  the  later  de- 
scendants of  the  patriarch,  and  the 
promises  of  God  were  prophetically 
repeated  by  the  only  earthly  king 
who  worshipped  him."  But  the 
realization  of  these  assurances  is 
symbolized  by  the  name,  "peace" 
and  it  was  effected  only  passingly  in 
Solomon,  who  was  a  shadow  of  the 
blessed  "  Prince  of  Peace  " — Imman- 
uel.  ^T  Possessor  of.  The  Sept.  reads, 
WJio  acquired  (or  created)  the  heaven 
and  earth.  Some  read  the  term  here 
Creator.  But  it  has  nowhere  this 
sense  clearly  made  out.  It  is  rather 
Proprietor ;  yet  there  is  an  allusion 
to  God's  creatorship,  and  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  God  of  Melchizedek  as 
the  Creator  and  upholder  of  the  uni- 
verse. "  We  have  here  no  mere  lo- 
cal or  national  Deity,  with  limited 
power  and  province,  but  the  sole  and 


supreme  God  of  the  universe,  and  of 
man."  This  is  no  representative  of 
a  mere  natural  religion,  but  doubt- 
less of  the  revealed  religion,  imper- 
fect, indeed,  as  yet,  but  to  be  unfold- 
ed and  developed  in  the  ministry  of 
Abram. 

20.  Here  follows  a  thanksgiving 
to  the  God  of  Melchizedek  and  of 
Abram  for  the  victory  achieved  over 
the  common  enemies.  Thus  he  ex- 
presses the  interest  which  he  has  in 
common  with  the  patriarch,  and  how 
much  is  due  to  Abram  as  the  rising 
dignitary  of  God's  chosen  ones,  who 
has  returned  with  the  Divine  seal  of 
triumph  set  upon  his  miaeicE.  ^g^xxcn. 
the  invading  hosts  of  the  heathen. 
This  is,  in  the  type,  a  recognition  of 
Abram's  conquering  greatness  as 
"  father  of  the  faithful,"  and  "  friend 
of  God."  The  form  of  the  benedic- 
tion is,  (1.)  A  blessing  upon  Abram 
from  God  most  high,  the  sovereign 
of  the  universe.  And  (2.)  A  bless- 
ing ascribed  to  God  as  the  Author  of 
Abram's  victories.  ^[  And  he  gave 
him  tithes  of  all.  This  is  Abram's 
response  to  the  priestly  benediction 
of  Melchizedek.  This  was  the  open 
acknowledgment  of  his  priestly  dig- 
nity and  lawful  claim.  He  offered 
to  him  the  tenth  part  of  the  spoils 
(Heb.  7:4)  and  the  spoils  were  all 
the  treasure  which  he  would  be 
likely  to  have  in  hand  at  this  dis- 
tance from  his  home.  He  thus  sub- 
ordinated himself  to  the  spiritual 
authority  of  this  personal  type  of 
Christ,  and  gave  to  his  descendants 
an  example  of  most  serious  import 
which  is  reflected  in  the  enactments 
of  the  law.  "  While  the  gold  and 
silver  acquired  by  Abram  foreshad- 
ow the  future  monarchy,  the  bread 
and  wine  of  Melchizedek  typify  the 
future  theocracy."  The  apostle 
dwells  on  this  typical  act  of  Abram, 
as    expressing    the    superiority    of 


B.  C.  2016.] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


261 


21  And  the  king  of  Sodom  said  unto  Abram,  Give  me  the  per- 
sons, and  take  the  goods  to  thyself. 


Christ's  Melcliizedek  priesthood,  for 
the  reason  that  Levi,  the  head  of 
the  Levitical  priesthood,  was  in  the 
loins  of  Abram  when  Melchize- 
del*  met  him  ;  and,  therefore,  they 
may  be  said  to  have  paid  tithes  to 
this  king-priest,  and  thus  to  have 
admitted  the  inferiority  and  subor- 
dination to  him  of  the  whole  Leviti- 
cal priesthood,  Heb.  7  :  1-10.  This 
Melcliizedek  was  before  the  Leviti- 
cal law,  and  received  tithes,  not  by 
virtue  of  the  statute,  but  by  a  higher 
right,  as  one  that  liveth,  and  is  not 
merely  of  a  line  of  dying  priests. 
"  To  Melcliizedek  God  has  manifest- 
ed Himself  as  the  God  of  the  pres- 
ent— the  Most  High.  To  Abram,  as 
God  of  the  future — Jehovah — who 
promises  salvation.  Melchizedek 
owns,  accordingly,  the  future  by 
blessing  Abram,  while  Abram  recog- 
nizes the  present  by  giving  tithes  to 
Melcliizedek.  Melchizedek  is  still 
within  the  old  Noachic  covenant, 
which  rested  on  a  universal  basis. 
Abram  is  within  the  new  covenant, 
which  rests  on  a  particularistic  ba- 
sis ;  and  even  in  this  respect,  the 
position  of  Melchizedek  is  more  ex- 
alted. But  this  universalistic  cove- 
nant terminated  in  one  individual — 
just  as  Melchizedek  stands  alone 
among  a  degenerate  and  idolatrous 
race  —  the  only  remaining  servant 
and  worshipper  of  the  God  who  had 
entered  into  covenant  with  Noah. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  particularis- 
tic covenant  which  commences  with 
Abram,  is  to  enlarge  into  the  fullest 
and  most  comprehensive  universali- 
ty, as  destined  to  bring  salvation  to 
all  nations,  and  terminates  in  one 
Person,  the  highest  and  last  repre- 
sentative of  the  Abrahamic  cove- 
nant. Melchizedek  unites  in  his 
person  the  priestly  and  kingly  digni- 
ties. In  Aaron,  Abram  attains  the 
one,  in  David  the  other.  In  Abram 
both  Aaron  and  David  bow  before 
Melchizedek .    But  Christ  is  the  real- 


ity and  the  antitype  of  which  Mel- 
chizedek is  only  the  shadow.  This 
ancient  king  of  righteousness  and 
of  peace  foreshadows  Him  in  whom 
righteousness  and  peace  embrace 
each  other,  Ps.  85 :  10.  It  is  strik- 
ing that  in  the  Book  of  Genesis, 
which  pays  so  much  attention  to 
genealogies,  no  mention  is  made  of 
the  pedigree  of  a  person  so  exalted 
that  even  the  honored  ancestor  of  a 
chosen  race  bowed  before  him.  But 
this  was  the  designed  intimation  of 
the  sacred  record,  that  his  office  de- 
pended on  no  hereditary  descent,  as 
with  the  statutory  priests,  and  that 
so  the  great  antitype  had  an  unde- 
rived  office.  In  David  the  royal  dig- 
nity is  attained,  and  hence  the  city 
of  Melchizedek  becomes  that  of  Da- 
vid. The  fact  that  Abram  received 
the  "  bread  and  wine "  from  his 
priestly  hands,  symbolized  the  cove- 
nant provisions  of  refreshment  and 
comfort  which  God  would  pledge  to 
him  in  every  conflict.  And  by  that 
strange  but  significant  priestly  bles- 
sing, Abram  is  set  apart  for  his  ca- 
reer. It  is  the  blessing  of  a  patri- 
arch, who  has  finished  his  work,  be- 
stowed upon  a  young  man,  who 
stands  at  the  commencement  of  an 
indefinite  development.  See  Kurtz, 
Old  Co  v.,  Vol.  1.,  p.  222.  In  Mel- 
chizedek, Abram  sees  the  day  of 
Christ,  and  is  glad.  Let  us  also  be- 
hold our  blessed  Lord  set  forth  in 
history  thus  early  and  plainly  in  the 
person  and  office  of  this  Melchize- 
dek, Heb.  7:1. 

21.  Abram  now  appears  as  assert- 
ing for  himself  a  superiority  to  the 
king  of  Sodom,  who,  according  to 
custom,  concedes  to  Abram  the  spoils 
of  conquest  as  his  right,  and  asks 
only  the  rescued  captives.  Abram's 
declinature  of  this  offer  shows  that 
he  aims  at  no  mere  personal  advan- 
tage ;  and  besides  that,  he  will  not 
be  beholden  to  this  heathen  prince 


262  GENESIS.  [B.  0. 201G 

22  And  Abram  said  to  the  king  of  Sodom,  I  k  have  lifted  up 
mine  hand  unto  the  Lord,  the  most  high  God,  *  the  possessor  of 
heaven  and  earth, 

23  That  mI  will  not  take  from  a  thread  even  to  a  shoe-latchet, 
and  that  I  will  not  take  any  thing  that  is  thine,  lest  thou  should- 
est  say,  I  have  made  Abram  rich : 

24  Save  only  that  which  the  young  men  have  eaten,  and  the 
portion  of  the  men  n  which  went  with  me,  Aner,  Eshcol,  and 
Mamre ;  let  them  take  their  portion. 

k  Exod.  6:8;    Dan.  12  :  7  ;   Rev.  10  :  5,  6.    1  vb.  19  ;  ch.  21 :  33.    m  So  Esther  9 :  15,  10. 


their  gross  abominations,  and  at  any 
rate,  he  could  not  thus  approve  Lot's 
association  with  such.  Thus  he  sets 
an  example  for  his  faithful  posterity 
of  making  distinction  between  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked — giving  to 
the  church,  and  refusing  to  receive 
from  the  world.  He  had  spoiled  the 
invaders,  and  had  rescued,  even  for 
the  king  of  guilty  Sodom,  the  plun- 
der they  had  taken  from  him.  By 
the  laws  of  Arab  warfare  it  was  his  ; 
and  yet  he  will  not  accept  it — he 
will  not  take  it,  though  it  is  his 
right.  He  will  keep  himself  unspot- 
ted from  the  world.  He  will  not  be 
exalted  by  such  worldly  means.  He 
had  vowed  solemnly  to  this  effect. 
It  was  thus  most  important  in  all 
his  plan  and  principle.  ^  I  have 
lifted  mine  hand  unto  the  Lord. 
Abram  here  adds  to  the  titles  which 
Melchizedek  gives  to  God,  this  more 
exalted  one,  "  Jehovah"  which,  as  it 
is  the  redemptive  name  of  God,  ex- 
presses Abram's  gospel  faith  and 
hope  —  that  he  will  live  by  faith, 
and  walk  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight 
— trusting  in  the  covenant-keeping 
God,  and  not  in  any  arm  of  flesh  or 
human  alliance. 

23.  That!  will  not  take.  Heb.,  If 
I  icill  take.  This  is  the  Oriental 
idiom  of  an  oath.  "If  they  shall 
enter  into  my  rest "  means  they  shall 
not  enter.  1"  From  a  thread  even  to 
a  shoe-latchet — the  most  trivial  arti- 
cle of  spoil — he  would  utterly  refuse. 
Not  a  thread  will  he  take — not  even 
the  latchet  which  binds  the  dusty 


sandal  on  the  foot.  ^[  Any  tiling  that 
is  thine.  Abram  would  lay  no  claim 
to  anything  by  the  mere  title  of  war, 
though  the  claim  was  so  acknowl- 
edged. He  holds  it  all  to  belong  to 
the  king  of  Sodom.  The  chief  rea- 
son is  given,  that  he  will  not  be  un- 
der obligation  for  any  part  of  his 
promotion  or  advancement  to  any 
earthly  potentate,  much  less  to  this 
king  of  the  guilty  city,  which  was 
even  now  waiting  its  just  retribu- 
tion and  destruction.  *j[  Lest  thou 
shouldest  say,  I  have  made  Abram 
(the  chosen  of  God,  the  owner  and 
heir  of  the  land)  rich. 

24.  This  refusal  does  not  prevent 
him  from  accepting  the  subsistence 
of  his  men,  nor  from  allowing  his 
allies  to  take  their  portion.  He 
stands  on  a  far  different  platform 
from  them,  as  living  on  God's  cove- 
nant, and  looking  for  "the  bettei 
country,"  that  is,  the  heavenly. 
While  he  is  in  the  world,  he  is  not 
of  it.  He  comes  out  from  among 
them,  and  is  separate,  and  will  not 
touch  the  unclean  thing,  (2  Cor.  6:17.) 
because  God  will  be  his  God,  and  he 
and  his  will  be  His  people,  (2  Cor. 
6  :  18.)  Here  is  Abram's  greatest  con 
quest — "  the  victory  that  overcometh 
the  world,  even  his  faith." 

Observe. — Here  appears  through- 
out the  great  idea  of  Abram's  right- 
ful claim  to  the  land  of  Canaan. 
This  is  the  inheritance  covenanted 
to  him  and  to  his  seed  forever.  This 
grant  overreaches  the  mere  earthly 
Canaan.     It  includes  "the  incorpo- 


B.  C.  2006.1 


CHAPTER  XV. 


263 


CHAPTER   XV. 

AFTER  these  things  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Abram 
a  in  a  vision,  saying,  b  Fear  not,  Abram :   I  am  thy  c  shield, 
and  thy  exceeding  d  great  reward. 


a  Dan.  10:1;  Acts  10: 11.     b  ch. 
84:  11;  91:4;  119  :  114.     d  Psa.  U 


> :  24 ;  Dan.  10 :  12  ;  Luke  1 :  13-80.    c  Psa.  3  :  3  ;  5:  12  ; 
5  ;  58  :  11 :  Prov.  11 :  18. 


ration  in  himself  of  the  whole  race 
so  far  as  it  is  faithful,  and  the  spirit- 
ual government  of  the  world  by  his 
influence  proceeding  therefrom." 
So  it  is  said  that  the  promise  was 
that  he  should  be  "  heir  of  the  world" 
(Rom.  4 :  13,  16.)  The  progress  in 
this  idea  was  first  from  the  grant  of 
Paradise,  the  garden  of  Eden,  as  a 
temporal  estate.  Next  is  this  grant 
of  Canaan — a  larger  earthly  patri- 
mony and  homestead — for  a  people 
and  nation,  and  not  any  longer  for  a 
family ;  and  then  further,  it  is  the 
grant  of  all  the  earth,  as  the  domain 
and  heritage  of  God's  people.  "  The 
rjromise  that  he  should  be  the  heir 
of  the  world  was  not  made  to  Abram 
or  to  his  seed  through  the  law,  but 
through  the  righteousness  of  faith. 
And  it  is  of  faith,  that  it  might  be 
by  grace,  to  the  end  the  promise 
might  be  sure  to  all  the  seed ;  not 
to  that  only  which  is  of  the  law,  but 
to  that  also  which  is  of  the  faith  of 
Abram,  who  is  the  father  of  us  all," 
(Rom.  4  :  13,  16.)  The  temporal  es- 
tate is  granted,  and  it  is  real ;  but  it 
is  throughout  the  shadow  of  the 
higher  and  heavenly  heritage  in 
which  "  all  nations  of  the  earth  are 
to  be  blessed."  Thus  the  true  Israel 
are  the  true  body  of  believers,  and 
the  true  seed  is  Christ,  as  including 
His  people,  who  stand  in  Him,  and 
are  the  members  of  which  He  is  the 
Head,  (Gal  3  :  8,  14,  16.)  They  shall 
inherit  the  earth,  (Matt.  5  :  5.)  They 
shall  judge  the  world,  (1  Cor.  6 : 2.) 
And  in  accordance  with  this  drift  of 
the  promise  of  the  "  oil  things "  (1 
Cor.  3  :  22,  23)  it  is  declared  that  "  in 
the  regeneration  " — in  the  renovated 
state  of   things  under  Christ — the 


twelve  "  shall  sit  on  twelve  thrones 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel," 
(Matt.  19  :  28.)  Then  the  earth  shall 
be  like  Eden,  (Isa.  51  :  3.)  "  Blessed 
are  they  that  do  His  commandments, 
that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree 
of  life,  and  may  enter  in  through  the 
gate  into  the  city,"  (Rev.  22  :  14.) 
"  And  if  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye 
Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according 
to  the  promise,"  (Gal.  3  :  29.)  Here 
follows  (ch.  15)  the  more  formal  con- 
firmation and  sealing  of  the  cove- 
nant to  Abram,  and  a  fuller  unfold- 
ing of  its  purport. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

§  36.  First  Stage  op  the  Cove- 
nant—Covenant Sacrifice  and 
Promise. 

Abram,  though  victorious,  was  be- 
set with  fears.  Possibly  he,  all  along, 
dreaded  the  vengeance  of  his  foes, 
whom  he  had  just  now  punished, 
lest  in  this  strange  land  he  might  be 
further  assaulted  by  them,  or  possi- 
bly by  others,  (vs.  1.)  He  was,  more- 
over, discouraged  at  his  childless 
lot,  (2.)  For  he  looked  to  the  fu- 
ture, as  the  inheritor  of  God's  prom- 
ises, (ch.  12  :  1-3,)  yet  he  had  waited 
without  issue  these  ten  years.  He 
troubled  himself  about  the  ways  of 
God — how  He  could  possibly  fulfil 
to  him  the  promise  of  being  a  great 
nation,  when  there  was  no  solitary 
son  and  heir  to  transmit  his  name 
and  heritage,  (3.)  God,  therefore 
renewed  His  assurances — promised 
him  a  direct  progeny,  and  thus  fur- 
ther called  forth  his  faith — hoping 
against  hope,  (4,  5.)    To  further  con 


264 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2000, 


2  And  Abram  said,  Lord  God,  what  wilt  thou  give  me, 
e  seeing  I  go  childless,  and  the  steward  of  mine  house  is  this  Eli- 
ezer  of  Damascus  ? 

e  Acts  7  :  5. 


firm  this  confidence,  Jehovah  gave 
to  him  a  striking  token  in  the  form 
of  a  covenant  sacrifice  (9)  solemnly 
guaranteeing  His  fidelity.  He  is  no- 
tified of  the  need  of  patience,  that 
only  after  he  has  patiently  endured 
can  he  obtain  the  promise,  which 
shall  he  fully  attained  only  after  his 
death  ;  that  others  (his  enemies)  are 
involved  in  the  fulfilment,  and  the 
time  must  he  delayed  till  their  cup 
of  iniquity  is  full,  and  Israel's  term 
of  bondage  and  estrangement.  But 
Abram  and  his  seed  may  rejoice  al- 
ways in  their  covenant  God  (12-16.) 
The  land  shall  be  theirs,  and  he  is 
even  now  assured  of  the  very  boun- 
daries (18.) 

1.  After  these  things.  This  was 
probably  some  few  years  after  the 
conquest  of  the  kings,  yet  the  con- 
nexion seems  natural  and  close. 
Abram  is  now  to  appear  in  a  new 
light — as  one  entrusted  with  special 
Divine  communications  in  regard  to 
His  church  and  kingdom.  ^[  Tfie 
word  of  the  Lord  came.  Heb.,  Was 
to  Abram.  This  phrase,  which  is 
common  in  the  Divine  revelations  to 
the  prophets,  here  first  occurs.  Here 
is  now  to  be  conveyed  to  him  a 
prophecy  of  future  events  in  refer- 
ence to  Lis  posterity,  of  whom  God 
had  already  promised  that  He  would 
cause  them  to  increase  to  a  great  na- 
tion (ch.  12 :  2)  that  they  should  be  a 
long  time  in  bondage,  and  that  in  fact 
Abram  must  be  content  to  die  with- 
out witnessing  the  glorious  results, 
and  so  he  must  believe  where  he 
could  not  perceive.  \  In  a  vision. 
Chald.,  In  a  prophecy.  It  was  a  pro- 
phetic revelation,  such  as  was  some- 
times made  to  the  patriarchs  and 
prophets  in  dreams,  or  in  a  vivid 
view  of  the  events,  as  if  they  passed 
before  the  eye,  whether  waking  or 
sleeping,  attended  with  powerful 
conviction  of  the  reality.    T[  Fear 


not.  This  word  of  comfort  is  ad- 
dressed to  the  staggering  faith  of 
the  patriarch,  (Rev.  1  :  17.)  How 
many  can  only  speak  this  word,  and 
do  nothing  to  make  it  good.  God 
can  speak  it  to  purpose,  for  He  can 
remove  the  grounds  of  fear.  This  is 
the  purport  of  what  follows.  ^[  1 
am  thy  strength.  Gr.,  /  mil  protect 
thee.  The  pronoun  is  emphatic,  I. 
You  can  rest  on  my  Divine  power  to 
carry  you  through  all  difficulties. 
"  I  am  the  Almighty  God,"  ch.  17: 1. 
"jf  And  thy  exceeding  great  reward. 
Sept.,  Thy  reicard  shall  be  exceeding- 
ly great.  So  Jew.  Bib.  Sam.,  "I 
will  multiply  thy  reward  exceeding- 
ly." Heb.,  Tliy  reward  is  multiplied 
exceedingly,  (Eev.  1 :  17,  18.)  This  is 
meant  to  remind  of  recent  dealings  in 
giving  him  the  victory.  "  Thy  shield  " 
would  call  this  to  his  mind ;  and  to 
have  God  for  his  defence,  and  the 
Lord  (Jehovah)  for  the  rock  of  his 
refuge,  is  the  strongest  possible  con- 
solation. "For  the  Lord  God  is  a 
sun  and  shield,"  says  the  Psalmist, 
Psa.  84.  God  will  appear  to  him  as 
a  defender  from  evil,  and  a  bestower 
of  good.  God  is  not  only  .the  de- 
fence, but  the  portion  of  His  people. 
2.  Abram  here  takes  God  at  His 
word,  and  asks  in  what  form  the 
promise  shall  be  made  good  to  him. 
^[  Lord  God.  Heb.,  Jehovah  Lord, 
Supreme  Disposer,  and  Redeemer. 
*|[  WJiat  icilt  thou  give  to  me  ?  The 
intimation  is  also  that  while  lacking 
a  posterity,  it  would  seem  impossi- 
ble for  him  to  receive  any  real  bene- 
fit or  blessing.  As  though  he  had 
said,  What  can  you  give  me?  or 
what  is  in  your  heart  to  bestow,  see- 
ing I  am  without  the  gift  which  is 
!  indispensable  to  make  the  promise 
good?  (ch.  12:2.)  1  I  go  childless. 
Not  only  I  live  thus,  but  I  am  going 
— departing  out  of  the  wnid  thvs. 
So  Ps.  Jon.    Seeing  I  depart  out  of 


B.  C.  2006.] 


CHAPTER  XV. 


265 


3  And  Abrara  said,  Behold,  to  me  thou  hast  given  no  seed  : 
and  lo,  fone  born  in  mine  house  is  mine  heir. 

4  And  behold,  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  him,  saying, 
This  shall  not  be  thine  heir  ;  but  he  that  S  shall  come  forth  out  of 
thine  own  bowels  shall  be  thine  heir. 

5  And  he  brought  him  forth  abroad,  and  said,  Look  now  to- 
ward heaven,  and  h  tell  the  l  stars,  if  thou  be  able  to  number 
them :  and  lie  said  unto  him,  kSo  shall  thy  seed  be. 

f  eh.  14 :  14.    g  2  Sam.  T  :  12  ;   16:  11  ;   2  Chron.  32  :  21.    li  Psa.  147 :  4.    i  Jer.  33  :  22, 
k  ch.  22  :  17 ;  Exod.  32  :  13  ;  Deut.  1 :  10 ;  10 :  22 :  1  Chron.  27 :  23 ;  Rom.  4 :  18  ;  Heb.  11 :  12 
ch.  13  :  16. 


the  midst  of  this  world.  The  Gr. 
phrase  is  like  that  in  Luke  2  :  29, 
Seeing  /  am  dismissed,  or  let  go — al- 
lowed to  depart  Jience  childless.  ^[  The 
steward  of  my  house.  Heb.,  Son  of  pos- 
session of  my  house — that  is,  heir — he 
to  whom  my  possessions  must  descend, 
according  to  the  present  case.  So  Qe- 
senius,  Kurtz,  etc.  As  Abram  was 
alone  in  this  strange  land,  and  sep- 
arated from  his  kindred,  it  would 
seem  that  he  could  only  look  to  his 
steward  —  his  confidential  servant, 
and  manager  of  his  house — as  his 
successor  and  heir.  Some  read,  Son 
of  sustentation  of  my  house,  or  the 
overseer.  But  not  so  properly. 
%  Tliis  Eliezer,  etc. — this  Damascene 
Eliezer.  Though  he  is  said  to  have 
been  born  in  Abram's  house  (vs.  4) 
yet  his  parentage  was  of  this  Gen- 
tile city,  and  Abram  refers  to  it  as 
conveying  a  reflection  on  his  forlorn 
and  desolate  case.  This  is  common- 
ly supposed  to  have  been  the  same 
servant  as  in  ch.  24 :  2. 

3.  Abram  now  repeats  his  com- 
plaint, which  stands  so,  to  his  nat- 
ural view,  in  the  way  of  fulfilling 
the  promise.  Behold,  to  me  thou 
hast  given  no  seed.  Heb.,  Hast  not 
given  seed.  How  then  could  the  pa- 
triarch become  a  great  nation,  and 
his  seed  be  as  the  sand  of  the  sea  ? 
1"  One  born  in  my  house  is  my  heir. 
A  son  of  my  house  is  possessing  me, 
or  inheriting  me — is  my  heir.  Some 
understand  that  "son  of  my  house" 
does  not  mean  a  slave,  but  a  rela- 
tive.   Yet  the  context  expresses  the 


more  commonly  received  sense  (vs. 
2.)  Slaves  were  taken  captives  in 
war — or  bought  with  money — while 
others  were  "born  in  the  house." 
And  these  latter  were  treated  as 
specially  related  to  the  family  — 
trained  in  the  household  faith — cir- 
cumcised and  admitted  to  family 
privileges  beyond  others.  Such  are 
called,  by  distinction,  "  trained  ser- 
vants" ch.  14 :  14.  Rosenmuller  holds 
that  we  are  to  infer  this  as  the  cus- 
tom— that  in  case  of  one  deceasing 
without  an  heir,  the  head  servant, 
or  steward,  should  be  his  heir.  And 
how  could  such  a  case  consist  with 
God's  promise  ?  "  But  the  Lord 
knoweth  how  to  deliver."  His 
ways  are  not  our  ways,  nor  His 
thoughts  our  thoughts.  He  will 
lead  the  blind  by  a  way  that  they 
knew  not. 

Observe. — God  will  have  us  plain- 
ly and  frankly  express  to  Him  our 
doubts  and  fears,  however  unworthy 
they  may  be,  and  here  He  graciously 
condescends  to  remove  them. 

4.  Most  positively  and  decidedly 
does  Abram's  covenant  God  speak  to 
the  very  point  of  all  his  fears,  and 
make  it  now  most  certain  to  him 
that  his  highest  hopes  shall  be  satis- 
fied, ^f  This  shall  not  be  thine  heir. 
Heb.,  TJiere  shall  not  inherit  thee  this 
one. 

5.  BrougM  him  forth  abroad. 
Some  have  supposed  that  the  whole 
was  done  in  vision — even  the  sacri- 
fice— and  that  the  scene  was  made 
only  to  pass  before  his  mind.     So 


odd 


GENESIS. 


TB.  C.  2006. 


6  And  he  Relieved  in  the  Lord;  and  he  m  counted  it  to  him 


for  righteousness. 


1  Rom.  4:3;  9  :  22  ;  Gal.  3:0;  Jas.  2  ;  23.    m  Psa.  106  :  31. 


Kurtz.  Others  suppose  that  "  the 
vision  does  not  interfere  with  the 
notice  of  the  sensible  world,  so  far 
as  is  necessary,"  (Dan.  10 :  7 ;  John 
12  :  29.)  Baumgarten  understands 
this  verse  to  mark  the  transition 
from  vision  to  outward  action.  Some 
suppose  that  it  was  all  by  night-vis- 
ion, others  (as  Hcngstenberg)  that  it 
was  by  day,  and  that  the  stars  could 
have  been  seen  in  vision  by  day. 
*[  Look  now  toward  heaven,  etc.  Not 
only  was  Abram  summoned  to  look  at 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  sand  of  the 
sea,  as  conveying  the  idea  of  his  in- 
numerable seed,  but  now  most  sub- 
limely is  he  bidden  to  survey  the 
starry  hosts,  to  get  the  impression  of 
his  vast  posterity,  (Exod.  32:13; 
Deut.  10  :  22 ;  1  Chron.  27  :  23.) 
Abram  was  now  over  eighty  years 
of  age.  It  was  not  as  yet  stated  to 
him  whether  his  posterity  should  be 
by  Sarah,  or  another,  nor  whether 
this  was  a  mere  promise  of  natural 
seed  ;  but  the  large  terms  of  promise 
made  him  look  beyond  the  letter  to 
the  spirit,  and  beyond  the  natural  to 
the  spiritual  posterity.  How  must 
the  firmament  ever  after  have  ap- 
peared to  Abram  most  glorious — the 
bright  expression  to  him  of  the  cove- 
nant seed,  (Psa.  19.)  "  In  them  hath 
he  set  a  tabernacle  for  the  sun." 

6.  And  he  believed  in  the  Lord. 
Heb.,  He  believed  in  Jehovah.  To 
believe  in  the  Lord,  expresses  more 
than  to  believe  Him — though  in  the 
New  Testament  this  passage  is  re- 
ferred to,  "  Abram  believed  God," 
(Rom.  4 :  3,)  and  so  in  the  Sept.  In 
the  Heb.  the  idea  is  of  confidence, 
reliance,  trust,  beyond  the  mere  be- 
lief of  this  particular  promise.  The 
Heb.  term  believe,  means  to  rest, 
rely  upon.  The  word  is  Aman,  from 
which  we  have  Amen,  meaning  to  be 
sure,  and  then  to  be  assured,  or  to 
confide  in.  In  the  same  chapter, 
Paul  illustrates  the  Christian  faith, 


and  argues  from  this  passage  to 
show  the  plan  of  salvation  by  faith 
— that  Abram  believed  in  God,  who 
quickeneth  the  dead,  and  calleth 
those  things  which  be  not,  as  though 
they  were,  who  against  hope  be- 
lieved in  (upon)  hope,  that  he  might 
(should)  becoma  the  father  of  many 
nations,  according  to  that  which  was 
spoken,  "  So  shall  thy  seed  be,"  (Rom. 
4 :  17,  18.)  The  strength  of  his  faith 
is  further  dwelt  upon  by  the  apostle 
in  the  particulars,  vs.  19-22,  and  the 
analysis  of  it  is  simply  that  it  was  a 
most  confident  reliance  upon  the  su- 
preme ability  of  God  to  make  good 
His  promise,  notwithstanding  all 
natural  hindrances,  and  all  present 
appearances  to  the  contrary.  "  And 
therefore  it  was  imputed  to  him  for 
righteousness."  Not  (as  some  would 
have  it)  because  it  was  so  signal  an 
instance  of  faith  as  to  be  accepted, 
in  lieu  of  a  perfect  righteousness, 
but  simply  because  it  laid  hold  on 
the  promised  seed,  which  was  ulti- 
mately Christ,  (Gal.  3  :  16.)  It  was 
not  this  grace  of  faith  accepted,  as 
leading  the  train  of  graces,  nor 
even  his  imperfect  righteousness  ac- 
cepted, as  if  it  were  perfect,  but  the 
faith  was  counted  to  him  for  right- 
eousness, because  it  had  the  perfect 
righteousness  of  Christ  in  hand. 
The  immediate  object  of  his  faith 
was  the  son  of  promise — the  Isaac — 
the  covenant  seed,  through  whom  he 
was  to  have  a  vast  progeny,  and  be- 
come a  blessing  to  all  the  world — 
all  nations  being  blessed  through 
him.  And  this  Isaac  was  only  the 
forerunner  and  foreshadow  of  Jesus, 
as  the  Son  of  promise  and  the  cove- 
nant seed,  and  in  this  Isaac  he  saw 
Jesus.  And  this  was  the  signifi- 
cance of  that  special  test  to  which 
his  faith  was  put  when  he  was 
called  to  offer  him  up  a  sacrifice, 
and  "  received  him  from  the  dead  in 
a  figure  ;"  all  to  set  forth  vividly  to 


B.  C.  2006.] 


CHAPTER  XV. 


267 


his  view  the  sacrificial  death  of  Je- 
sus (the  New  Testament  Isaac)  ap- 
pointed by  God,  and  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus,  received  back  again 
from  the  dead,  according  to  the  fore- 
shadow. Thus  the  apostle,  in  the 
annals  of  faith,  shows  the  connexion 
between  the  immediate  object  of 
Abram's  faith,  and  Jesus  the  ulti- 
mate object,  (Heb.  11:17-19;  Gal. 
3  :  16-19.)  And  it  is  a  great  mistake 
to  suppose  that  it  was  simply  as  an 
act  of  believing  God's  promise  of  a 
seed,  without  any  reference  to  Christ, 
that  this  instance  of  Abram's  be- 
lieving is  so  celebrated  in  the  New 
Testament.  True,  he  had  believed 
before  this,  and  was  a  believer  al- 
ready. But  here  his  faith  more  dis- 
tinctly and  directly  grasped  the 
great  covenant  blessing — the  Lord 
Jesus — and  so  it  was  here  that  his 
faith  reached  its  highest  ground. 
"  Besides,  we  are  not  here  told  when 
Abram  first  began  to  be  justified  or 
to  believe  in  God,  but  that  in  this 
one  place  it  is  declared  or  related 
how  he  had  been  justified  through 
his  whole  life.  Hence  it  cannot  be 
said  that  the  righteousness  of  faith 
is  only  initial.  It  is  perpetual.  And 
after  his  progress  thus  far,  it  is  still 
said  that  he  is  justified  by  faith." — 
Calvin.  ^  Counted.  The  Heb.  term 
means  to  think,  devise,  and  then  to 
reckon,  impute — set  to  one's  account, 
Acts  7  :  60  ;  2  Tim.  4 :  16.  The  term 
has  reference  to  God's  judgment  or 
verdict  in  a  forensic  transaction, 
(Psa.  106:81.)  It  is  employed  also 
of  imputing  or  reckoning  iniquity 
at  law,  (Lev.  7 :  18 ;  17:4;  2  Sam. 
19  :  19  :  2  Kings  12  :  15.)  "  It  seems 
absurd  to  suppose  that  Abram 
should  be  justified  by  believing  that 
his  seed  would  be  as  numerous  as 
the  stars,  for  this  could  be  nothing 
but  a  particular  faith,  which  would 
by  no  means  suffice  for  the  complete 
righteousness  of  man.  Besides,  what 
could  an  earthly  and  temporal  prom- 
ise avail  for  eternal  salvation  ? 
Plainly,  he  did  not  expect  some 
common  or  undefined  seed,  but  that 
in  which  the  world  was  to  be  bless- 


ed .  When  it  is  said  that  faith  was 
imputed  to  Abram  for  righteousness, 
it  is  not  meant  as  the  efficient  cause 
of  righteousness,  but  only  the  formal 
cause  ;  for  faith  borrows  a  righteous- 
ness elsewhere,  of  which  we  in  our- 
selves are  destitute,  else  it  would 
be  in  vain  for  Paul  to  set  faith  in 
opposition  to  works  when  speaking 
of  the  mode  of  obtaining  righteous- 
ness."—  Calvin.  1"  For  righteous- 
ness— or  justification. 

Observe.  —  (1.)  Abram  had  no 
righteousness  for  j  ustification.  Paul 
sIioavs  this.  "  For  if  Abram  were 
justified  by  works,  he  hath  whereof 
to  glory — but  not  before  God,"  (Rom. 
4 :  2.)  (2.)  Faith  is  not  imputed  to 
him  as  a  work,  or  a  meritorious 
ground  of  justification,  else  he  would 
still  be  justified  by  his  works — the 
work  of  faith.  (3.)  It  was  by  the 
hearing  of  faith,  and  not  by  the 
works  of  the  law,  (Gal.  3  :  5.)  It  is 
only  as  instrumental — laying  hold 
on  a  perfect  righteousness — that  the 
faith  is  imputed  to  him  for  right- 
eousness. (4.)  The  law  could  not 
accept  any  other  than  a  perfect 
righteousness — his  own  or  another's 
imputed  to  him — set  to  his  account. 
And  this  is  the  Gospel  plan  of  justi- 
fication— to  reckon  the  perfect  right- 
eousness of  Christ  received  by  faith 
as  our  righteousness  for  justifica- 
tion, (Gal.  3  :  6.)  They,  therefore, 
who  rest  upon  their  own  faith,  and 
cannot  find  peace,  except  so  far  as 
they  are  assured  of  their  own  accept- 
able faith,  do,  in  effect,  put  their 
faith  in  the  stead  of  Christ's  right- 
eousness as  the  ground  to  rest  upon. 
"  Going  about  to  establish  their  own 
righteousness,  they  have  not  sub- 
mitted themselves  unto  the  right- 
eousness of  God."  If  it  be  asked 
then  what  is  accepted,  it  is  the  per- 
fect righteousness  of  Christ  accepted 
for  us,  and  counted  to  our  credit. 
The  finished  work  of  Christ,  outside 
of  us,  is  the  ground  of  a  sinner's  jus- 
tification, and  not  the  unfinished 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  within  us — 
as  our  faith.  Y\e  are  "  accepted  in 
the  Beloved,"  (Eph.  1 :  6.)    The  Gos- 


268  GENESIS.  [B.  C.  2005. 

7  And  he  said  unto  him,  I  am  the  Lord  that  n  brought  thee 
out  of  °  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  P  to  give  thee  this  land  to  inherit  it. 

8  And  he  said,  Lord  God,  q  whereby  shall  I  know  that  I  shall 
inherit  it  ? 


n  ch.  12  :  1.      o  ch.  11  :  28-31.      p  Psa.  105  :  42-44  ;    Rom.  4  :  13. 
6  :  1T-37 ;  1  Sam.  14  :  9,  10 ;  2  Kings  20 :  8  :  Luke  1 :  18. 


q  ch.  24  :  13,  14 ;   Judg. 


pel  plan  of  justification  is  thus  to 
impute  to  the  sinner  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ.  Thus  it  is  called  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  God,  (Phil. 

3  :  9.)  And  righteousness  is  spoken 
of  as  imputed  without  works,  (Rom. 

4  :  6.)  And  this  is  illustrated  by  the 
case  of  Abram.  So  the  sinner  is  re- 
garded and  treated  as  righteous  on 
account  of  the  perfect  righteousness 
of  this  substitute  set  to  liis  account 
by  free  grace  in  the  Gospel.  Thus 
righteousness  is  imputed  to  the  un- 
godly (Rom.  4 :  5)  without  works, 
(Rom.  5  :  6.)  Thus  believers  are 
treated  as  though  they  had  not  sin- 
ned, because  Christ  has  fulfilled  the 
law  for  them. 

Observe. — The  immediate  object 
of  the  patriarch's  faith  was  a  per- 
sonal type  of  Christ — Isaac,  as  the 
son  of  promise — and  so  his  faith  had 
its  training  to  lay  hold  on  Christ, 
while  the  plan  of  grace  was  gradual- 
ly unfolding.  The  promise  of  a  Ca- 
naan was  all  along  pointing  forward 
to  a  better  Canaan — that  is,  an  heav- 
enly, (Heb.  11 :  16.)  The  promise  of 
a  seed  was  pointing  forward  to  the 
seed  which  was  Christ,  and  thus 
there  is  a  constant  unfolding,  more 
and  more,  and  the  spiritual  and  eter- 
nal are  set  forth  and  seen  through 
the  physical  and  temporal. 

7.  God  now  further  leads  him  to 
repose  entire  confidence  in  His  su- 
preme ability  to  accomplish  all  that 
He  had  spoken.  As  in  the  preface 
to  the  commandments,  He  announces 
Himself  as  "  the  Lord  thy  God  (cove- 
nant Jehovah)  who  brought  thee  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,"  etc.,  so  here, 
"lam  JeJiovah,  that  brought  thee  out 
of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees."  Let  Abram 
confirm  his  faith  in  God  by  looking 
at  the  steps  already  taken  for  giving 


him  the  land  of  promise.  It  was  in 
God's  plan  in  bringing  him  out  of 
Ur  to  give  him  possession  of  Ca- 
naan. This  is  enough.  Will  God 
now  falter  or  fail  in  the  midst  ?  So 
the  Christian  may  encourage  him- 
self in  God  by  looking  back  at  all  that 
God  has  already  done  for  him,  at  the 
ways  in  which  He  has  already  led 
him,  and  at  what  He  has  plainly 
provided  for  him. 

8.  Lord  God.  Heb.,  Adonai  Jeho- 
vah. Abram  here  again  uses  this 
title  of  God,  expressive  of  His  su- 
preme majesty.  And  here  God  ap- 
plies to  Himself  the  title  Jehovah, 
with  emphasis,  though  it  is  said  in 
Exod.  6  :  3,  that  He  was  not  known 
to  the  patriarchs  by  this  name. 
That  is,  however,  they  did  not  clear- 
ly understand  this  name  as  Redeem- 
er, or  that  they  did  not  understand 
it  in  its  special  application  to  the 
second  person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity, 
or  that  they  had  not  the  clear  view 
of  it  which  was  afterwards  had  from 
His  fulfilment  of  the  covenant  prom- 
ises. ^[  WJiereby  shall  1  know.  This 
may  seem  to  some  to  be  in  the  spirit 
of  unbelief,  as  if  Abram  required  a 
sign.  But  his  triumphant  faith  has 
just  now  been  mentioned.  Hence  it 
is  rather  here  a  call  for  some  open 
memorial  or  seal  confirmatory  of  His 
promise,  which  is  rather  the  evi- 
dence of  the  high  value  he  set  upon 
the  promise  itself.  God  was  dis- 
pleased with  Ahaz  for  not  requiring 
a  sign  (Isa.  7 :  12,)  and  He  would 
give  a  sign  for  the  people's  benefit. 
So  here.  God  would  give  a  sign  for 
the  good  of  Israel.  He  is  even 
pleased  to  confirm  His  promise  by 
an  oath,  that  believers  might  have 
strong  consolation,  (Gen.  22  :  10,  17.) 
The  apostle,  alluding  to  God's  cove- 


B.  C.  2006.] 


CHAPTER  XV. 


9  And  he  said  nnto  him,  Take  me  an  heifer  of  three  years  old, 
and  a  she-goat  of  three  years  old,  and  a  ram  of  three  years  old, 
and  a  turtle-dove,  and  a  young  pigeon. 

10  And  he  took  unto  him  all  these,  and  r  divided  them  in  the 
midst,  and  laid  each  piece  one  against  another :  but  s  the  birds 
divided  he  not. 


r  Jer.  34  :  18, 19.     s  Lev.  1  :  17. 


nant  dealings  with  Abram,  refers  to 
this  transaction  here  and  in  ch.  22, 
and  applies  it,  (Heb.  G  :  13-18.)  See 
also  in  the  case  of  Gideon  (Judg. 
6  :  14-21 ;  38-40.)  So  with  Heze- 
kiah,  (2  Kings  20  :  8-11.)  Because 
Abram  here  exhibits  his  faith  in  so 
special  a  reference  to  the  Gospel  plan 
and  promise,  he  is  called  "  the  father 
of  the  faithful,"  or  believing  ones. 
"If  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye 
Abram's  seed  and  heirs  according  to 
the  promise."  The  true  Israel  under 
the  New  Testament  are  the  true  be- 
lievers. 

9.  Here  we  find  God  for  the  first 
time  entering  into  covenant  with 
Abram.  There  had  been  a  covenant 
with  Adam,  and  a  covenant  with 
Noah.  But  here,  with  still  farther 
progress  towards  the  full  Gospel  idea, 
God  covenants  with  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  and  makes  His  covenant 
promises  to  Abram  and  his  seed  in 
all  the  formality  of  a  sacrificial 
transaction.  *|f  Take  me.  Heb., 
Take  for  me — for  an  offering,  ^f  An 
heifer.  God  directs  him  to  prepare 
a  sacrifice.  The  animals  are  (strik- 
ingly enough)  all  those  which  were 
afterwards  used  in  the  Levitical  sac- 
rifices. It  was  thus  a  foreshadow  of 
that  ritual,  as  that  was  of  the  Gos- 
pel system.  *[f  Of  three  years  old. 
Not  three  heifers,  as  some  have  un- 
derstood, but  a  three  year  old  one. 
Why  it  is  prescribed  to  be  of  this 
age  does  not  appear,  as  it  was  not  so 
required  under  the  law,  except  that 
the  number  three  is  in  the  Scripture 
a  sacred  number,  and  denotes  the 
maturity  and  perfection  of  the  vic- 
tim. One  year  old  was  the  more 
common  age  for  sacrifice ;  but  a 
-hree  year  old  animal  was  regarded 


as  in  its  full  vigor.  And  the  idea 
was  that  it  must  be  the  best,  and 
unblemished.  All  these  animals 
were  to  be  of  this  age,  to  denote  the 
eminent  transaction.  Delitzsch  un- 
derstands that  the  age  has  reference 
to  the  bondage  of  the  people,  be- 
cause the  seed  of  Abram  was  only 
to  enter  the  land  of  promise  in  their 
fourth  generation,  vs.  16.  So  Hoff- 
man and  Kurtz. 

10.  Abram  is  supposed  to  have 
done  the  sacrificial  work  according 
to .  the  Divine  direction,  ^f  Divided 
them.  This  was  the  well  known 
method  of  preparing  the  animal  for 
the  ratification  of  a  covenant.  Hence 
the  Heb.  phrase  "to  make  a  cove- 
nant," is,  literally,  to  cut  a  covenant. 
The  animals  are  slain.  There  is 
death,  as  the  consequence  of  sin, 
plainly  set  forth.  It  is  the  death  of 
appointed  victims.  There  is  also  set 
forth  the  expiatory  death  and  media- 
tion by  Christ  Jesus.  And  the  cleav- 
ing asunder  of  the  animal  was  the 
custom  in  such  cases  of  covenant. 
The  parties  passed  between  the 
halves  of  the  animal,  as  invoking 
a  like  fate  (to  be  hewn  asunder)  if 
they  should  break  the  covenant. 
Compare  1  Sam.  11  : 7,  and  Jer. 
34 :  18,  19.  This  is  the  more  com- 
mon view.  But  it  seems  to  lose 
sight  of  the  sacrificial  idea  as  expia- 
tory and  atoning.  Rather,  the  par- 
ties are  thus  represented  as  at  one, 
passing  together  between  the  parts 
of  the  sacrifice.  "The  unity  laid 
down  in  the  covenant  is  hereby  ex- 
pressed. The  division  of  the  sacri- 
fices into  two  portions  represent  the 
two  parties  to  the  covenant.  As 
these  portions  constitute  in  reality 
one  animal,  so  these  two  parties  to 


270 


GENESIS. 


[B.  :.  2006. 


11  And  when  the  fowls  came  down  upon  the  carcasses,  Abram 
drove  them  away. 

12  And  when  the  sun  was  going  down,  *a  deep  sleep  fell  upon 
Abram ;  and  lo,  an  horror  of  great  darkness  fell  upon  him. 

13  And  he  said  unto  Abram,  Know  of  a  surety  u  that  thy  seed 
shall  be  a  stranger  in  a  land  that  is  not  theirs,  and  shall  serve 
them  ;  and  w  they  shall  afflict  them  four  hundred  years  ; 

t  Gen. 
105 :  25. 


21 ;  Job  4  :  13.    u  Exod.  12  :  40 ;  Psa.  105  :  23  ;  Acts  7:6.    w  Exod.  1:11;  Psa. 


xlie  covenant  are  joined  into  one." — 
Kurtz.  ^[  The  birds  he  divided  not. 
There  were  two  birds,  and  there 
needed  no  dividing  of  these  into 
halves.  Besides,  these  were  rather 
accompaniments  of  the  sacrifice,  and 
it  was  also  enacted  in  the  Levitical 
law  that  the  bird  should  only  have 
its  wings  cut  off,  but  should  not  be 
divided  asunder,  (Lev.  1  :  17.)  It 
was  the  custom  that  the  covenant- 
ing parties  should  pass  between  the 
halves  of  the  sacrificial  animals  from 
opposite  directions,  so  as  to  meet  in 
the  centre  and  take  the  formal  oath 
of  covenant.  Traces  of  this  cere- 
mony are  found  among  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  (Livy  40  :  6)  and  among 
the  Chaldeans.  It  is  to  be  observed 
that  in  this  first  stage  of  the  cove- 
nant God  Himself  alone  passes 
through  between  the  parts  of  the 
animals,  and  thus  first  obligates 
Himself,  and  afterwards  (ch.  17)  re- 
ceives Abram's  obligations.  God 
thus  in  the  Gospel  first  binds  Him- 
self to  us,  and  in  Christ  gives  Him- 
self for  us,  and  then  calls  upon  us  to 
give  ourselves  to  Him. 

11.  The  fouis.  Heb.,  And  the  fowl 
descended  upon  the  carcasses.  Birds 
of  prey  alighted  upon  these  slain 
animals.  Abram  was  sitting  beside 
these  parted  halves  of  the  slain  vic- 
tims, and  watching  there  during  the 
entire  clay.  Some  suppose  this  alto- 
gether natural  phenomenon  was  in- 
tended to  signify  to  Abram  how  the 
enemies  of  God  and-  the  church 
would  alight  upon  him  and  his  pos- 
terity  to  rob  and  devour  them,  ^Ezek. 
17 :  3,  7 ;  Rev.  19  :  17,  18.)  ■;  Drove 
them  away.     Heb.,  Blew  them  off. 


Luther  says,  "  The  birds  represent 
the  Egyptians,  who  first  persecute 
Abram's  descendants,  but  Abram 
drives  them  away — that  is,  God  re- 
deems them  for  His  promise  made 
to  Abram." 

12.  And  when  the  sun.  Heb.,  And 
tlie  sun  icas  (about)  to  go  down.  See 
vs.  17.  Tf  A  deep  sleep.  The  same 
term  is  used  of  the  preternatural 
sleep  which  fell  upon  Adam  (ch. 
2  :  21)  when  Eve  was  formed  from 
one  of  his  ribs.  The  Sept.  has  it,  an 
ecstacy.  It  would  seem  that  if  he 
was  pointed  to  the  stars  instead  of 
seeing  them  merely  in  vision,  he 
must  have  been  occupied  with  this 
transaction  during  the  whole  day 
and  the  two  nights.  See  vss.  5  and 
17.  The  trance  was  only  a  release 
of  the  mind  from  attention  to  hu- 
man and  earthly  things  to  fix  it 
upon  things  Divine.  And  there  was 
in  the  mind,  doubtless,  a  deep  and 
firm  persuasion  that  the  communi- 
cation was  from  God.  ^[  An  horror 
of  great  darkness.  Gerlach  terms  it 
"  a  prophetic  sleep,  full  of  dread  be 
fore  the  majesty  of  the  approach  of 
God."  This  feeling  of  awe  and  hor- 
ror was  often  an  attendant  of  special 
prophetic  revelations,  (Job  4 :  13, 14  ; 
Dan.  10 : 8.)  This  was  a  state  of 
mind,  too,  appropriate  to  the  com- 
munication, as  first  discouraging, 
and  then  joyous. 

13.  From  this  verse  to  the  seven- 
teenth we  have  the  Divine  prophecy 
and  promise.  This  is  a  striking  in- 
stance in  which  God  makes  known 
the  times  and  seasons.  And  yet  the 
chronology  has  been  much  disputed. 
®[  Know  of  a  surety.    Abram  is  now 


B.  C.  2006.] 


CHAPTER  XV. 


271 


most  positively  forewarned  of  the 
delays  he  should  experience,  and 
how  his  faith  must  look  for  its  reali- 
zation beyond  his  natural  lifetime. 
Hence  this  example  is  cited  by  the 
apostle  as  an  eminent  instance  of 
patient  waiting  for  the  promises, 
(Heb.  6.)  If  A  stranger,  etc.  This 
is  spoken  generally,  and  has  chief 
reference  to  Egypt,  but  does  not  ex- 
clude the  sojourn  in  Canaan,  where 
they  lived  as  strangers.  In  Exod. 
12  :  40  it  is  said,  "Now  the  sojourn- 
ing of  the  children  of  Israel  who 
dwelt  in  Egypt  was  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years."  But  this  speaks 
of  the  whole  sojourning;  and  while 
it  refers  to  their  dwelling  in  Egypt, 
it  does  not  confine  the  sojourning  to 
that  country,  but  includes  it  all  from 
Abram's  entrance  into  Canaan.  So 
Kennicott.  It  is  here  spoken  of  as 
four  hundred  years.  The  time  is 
calculated  from  the  promise  made  to 
Abram  of  a  son,  or  from  the  birth  of 
Isaac.  In  Exodus  it  is  computed 
from  the  departure  from  his  native 
country  in  obedience  to  the  Divine 
command.  The  Sam.,  Pentateuch, 
and  the  Alexandrine  copy  of  the 
Sept.  read,  "Now  the  sojourning  of 
the  children  of  Israel  and  of  their 
fathers  in  the  land  of  Canaan  and  in 
the  land  of  Egypt  was  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years."  And  Paul  makes 
the  same  statement  in  Gal.  3  :  17, 
reckoning  from  the  promise  made 
to  x\bram  to  the  giving  of  the  law, 
which  was  soon  after  the  exodus. 
It  is  further  evident  that  the  de- 
scendants of  Israel  did  not  dwell 
four  hundred  and  thirty  years  in 
Egypt,  while  it  is  equally  evident 
that  the  period  from  Abram's  en- 
trance into  Canaan  till  the  exodus  is 
exactly  that  number.  Thus,  from 
Abram's  entrance  into  Canaan  till 
the  birth  of  Isaac,  twenty-five  years  ; 
from  Isaac's  birth  to  Jacob's,  sixty 
years ;  from  Jacob,  at  the  going  into 
Egypt,  was  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years ;  residence  in  Egypt,  two  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  years — four  hundred 
and  thirty  years.  Josephus  corrob- 
orates   this  view,   though  he    also 


seems  to  hold  the  other  in  other 
places.  Kurtz  argues  at  length  that 
the  four  hundred  and  thirty  years' 
sojourning  was  all  of  it  in  Egypt. 
See  Vol.  II.,  pp.  135-145.  Some  pre- 
fer the  longer  period  in  Egypt,  in 
order  to  account  for  the  two  mil- 
lions of  souls  who  seem  to  have 
gone  out  at  the  exodus.  But  surely 
a  supernatural  growth  of  the  people 
in  thus  coming  to  be  a  nation  may 
be  supposed.  "  The  interval  of  four 
hundred  years  here  named  can  only 
commence  at  the  birth  of  the  prom- 
ised seed,  Isaac,  when  Abram  was 
one  hundred  years  old,  and  hence 
thirty  years  after  the  call.  During 
this  interval  they  are  to  be  stran- 
gers in  a  land  not  theirs  (not  in 
their  possession)  for  one  hundred 
and  ninety  years,  and  then  for  the 
remaining  two  hundred  and  ten 
years  in  Egypt ;  first,  strangers  in  a 
strange  land,  which  was  theirs  by 
promise,  but  not  theirs  in  posses- 
sion ;  and  next,  afflicted  serfs,  under 
a  degraded  and  cruel  bondage.  The 
whole  period  is  taken  together,  after 
the  manner  of  prophecy,  in  the  gen- 
eral statement,  the  two  parts  run- 
ning into  each  other  as  one  whole. 
Besides  this,  according  to  the  exact 
pointing  of  the  Hebrew,  the  reading 
is  this — "  Thy  seed  shall  be  a  stran- 
ger in  a  land  that  is  not  theirs,  and 
they  shall  serve  them,  and  they  shall 
afflict  them  four  hundred  years."  It 
is  not  meant  that  the  periods  of 
strangerhood  and  of  servitude  shall 
be  distinctly  separated  as  to  time. 
So  in  Exod.  12 :  40,  the  sojourning 
and  the  dwelling  in  Egypt  (the 
bondage)  are  hinted  of  as  distinct, 
and  the  period  in  round  numbers  is 
given  as  including  both.  See  Acts 
7  :  6,  Notes.  The  Sept.  reads,  They 
shall  enslave  them  and  maltreat 
them  and  afflict  them. 

14.  And  also.  The  promise  is  now 
given  to  Abram,  to  stand  on  record 
for  his  descendants,  that  God  will 
judge  that  nation  (Egypt)  to  whom 
they  should  be  in  servitude.  This 
was  literally  fulfilled.  God  visited 
Egypt  with    very  sore  judgments, 


272 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2006. 


14  And  also  that  nation  whom  they  shall  serve,  x  will  I  judge : 
and  afterward  7  shall  they  come  out  with  great  substance. 

15  And  z  thou  shalt  go  a  to  thy  fathers  in  peace;   b  thou  shalt 
be  buried  in  a  good  old  age. 

16  But  c  in  the  fourth  generation  they  shall  come  hither  again : 
for  the  iniquity  d  of  the  Amorites  e  is  not  yet  full. 

1 7  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  sun  went  down,  and  it 


x  Exod.  6 
bch.  25:8. 
2:16. 


6 ;  Dent.  6  : 
c  Exod.  12 


y  Exod.  12  :  36 
d  1  Kings  21 


;  Psa.  105  :  37. 
16.      e  Dan.  8 


z  Job  5  :  26.      a  Acts  13  :  36. 
23  ;    Matt.  23  :  32  ;    1  Thess. 


on  account  of  their  grievous  oppres- 
sion of  His  people,  (Exod.,  chs.  7  to 
11 ;  Psa.  78  &  135  &  136.)  f  And 
afterward.  This  was  also  fulfilled 
in  the  exodus.  See  Exod.,  chs.  12 
to  14.  ^[  Great  substance.  They 
were  brought  forth  with  great 
wealth.  They  demanded  of  the 
Egyptians  (not  "borrowed")  jewels 
of  silver  and  gold  and  raiment, 
(Exod.  12 :  35,  36.)  So  says  the 
Psalmist,  "  He  brought  them  forth 
also  with  silver  and  gold,  Psa. 
105  :  37.  See  Exod.  11  :  2,  where 
the  Israelites  were  instructed  to  ask, 
as  the  term  is,  (not  to  borrow)  each 
of  their  neighbor  jewels  of  silver  and 
jewels  of  gold.  It  was  their  right. 
"  And  the  Lord  gave  the  people  fa- 
vor in  the  eyes  of  the  Egyptians,  so 
that  they  lent  unto  them  (such 
things  as  they  required)  and  they 
spoiled  the  Egyptians,"  (Ex.  12  :  36.) 
15.  This  promise  to  Abram  of  a 
peaceful  death  is  comforting.  The 
phrase,  go  to  one's  fathers,  implies 
that  the  fathers  are  yet  alive,  and 
that  death  is  to  believers  a  happy 
reunion  beyond  the  grave.  To  go 
from  one  place  to  another,  especially 
to  go  to  join  others  elsewhere,  does 
not  imply  annihilation,  but  contin- 
ued existence.  And  this  is  the  Old 
Testament  doctrine  of  the  future 
life.  So  God's  language,  "  I  am  the 
God  of  Abraham,  and  of  Isaac,  and 
of  Jacob,"  is  used  to  prove  the  same 
doctrine  of  immortality,  for  it  im- 
plies that  they  are  not  dead,  but  liv- 
ing. "  God  is  not  the  God  of  the 
dead,  but  of  the  .iving."  Abram 
4ied  in  peace  one  hundred  and  fif- 


teen years  before  his   descendants 
went  down  to  Egypt. 

16.  In  the  fourth  generation.  This 
is  understood  by  some  to  mean  the 
same  as  the  four  hundred  years  just 
named.  But  it  may  also  mean  that 
the  fourth  generation  of  the  Is- 
raelites who  went  down  into  Egypt 
should  return  and  possess  Canaan. 
This  was  the  result.  Caleb  was  the 
fourth  from  Judah,  Moses  was'  the 
fourth  from  Levi.  Or  Isaac,  Levi, 
Amram,  Eleazar  may  represent  the 
four  generations,  ^f  For  the  iniquity, 
etc.  The  reason  is  here  given  for 
this  long  delay.  The  long-suffering 
of  God  towards  the  wicked  makes 
Him  even  postpone  the  deliverance 
of  His  people,  showing  that  in  His 
dealings  with  us  He  has  also  to  re- 
gard others,  and  He  will  order  all 
things  well.  Abram  was  now  living 
among  the  Amorites,  and  they  were 
the  most  extensive  occupants  of  the 
territory.  Here  we  are  taught,  1. 
That  God  foreknows  the  moral  char- 
acter of  men.  2.  In  His  providence 
He  administers  the  affairs  of  nations 
on  the  principles  of  moral  rectitude. 
3.  Nations  are  spared  until  tkeir  ini- 
quity is  full.  4.  They  are  then  cut  off 
in  retributive  justice.  5.  The  Amor 
ite  was  to  be  the  chief  nation  extir- 
pated for  its  iniquity  on  the  return  of 
the  seed  of  Abram.  They  had  by  far 
the  largest  possessions  in  the  land 
of  promise,  and  they  seem  to  have 
been  extinguished  as  a  nation  by 
the  invasion  of  Israel,  for  we  read  no 
more  of  them  in  the  after  history 
See  Murphy,  f  Not  yet  full.  Heb. 
Not  finished  thus  far  hitherto. 


B.  C.  2006.] 


CHAPTER  XV. 


273 


was  dark,  behold  a  smoking  furnace,  and  a  burning  lamp  that 
f  passed  between  those  pieces. 

18  In  that  same  clay  the  Lord  ?made  a  covenant  with  Abram, 
saying,  h  Unto  thy  seed  have  I  given  this  land,  from  the  river  of 
Egypt  unto  the  great  river,  the  river  Euphrates : 

19  The  Kenites,  and  the  Kenizzites,  and  the  Kadmonites, 

f  Jer.  34  :  IS,  19.  g  ch.  24 :  7.  h  ch.  12  :  7 ;  13  :  15 ;  26  :  4,  Exod.  23  :  31 ;  Num.  34  :  3^ 
Deut.  1:7;  11  :  24 ;  34  :  4 ;  Josh.  1:4;  1  Kings  4:21;  2  Chron.  9  :  26 ;  Neh.  9:8;  Psa. 
105:11;  Isa.  27:12. 


17.  A  smoking  furnace.  This 
would  seem  to  be  the  impressive 
symbol  of  God's  vindictive  judg- 
ments upon  their  oppressors.  A 
furnace  or  oven  smoking  is,  in  Scrip- 
ture, a  symbol  of  Divine  wrath,  as 
Mai.  4:1;  Psa.  21:8,  9.  So  ch. 
19  :  28.  So  1  Kings  8  :  10,  11 ;  Isa. 
6:4;  Rev.  15  :  8,  the  burning  lamp 
represented,  in  a  milder  form,  the 
shekinah,  or  glory  of  tJie  Lord,  pass- 
ing through  the  parts  of  the  sacri- 
fice. And  as  God  alone  appears  at 
this  stage  of  the  covenant  as  the 
contracting  party,  these  both  are  to 
be  regarded  as  symbols  of  His  pres- 
ence— punishing  His  enemies  (and 
Abram's,  which  are  those  of  the. 
church)  and  glorious  as  a  faithful 
covenant-keeping  vindicator  and 
guide  of  His  people.  "  The  smoke 
of  destruction  and  the  light  of  salva- 
tion are  here  symbolized."  "Our 
God  is  a  consuming  fire."  "As 
smoke  is  driven  away,  so  drive  them 
away."  "  The  smoke  of  their  tor- 
ments ascendeth  up  forever  and 
ever."  And  John  the  Baptist  was 
spoken  of  as  "  a  burning  and  a  shin- 
ing lamp,"  much  more  the  true 
Light  whom  he  foreshadowed. 
There  may  be  also  a  hint  of  the  pil- 
lar of  cloud  and  fire,  in  which  the 
Shekinah  passed  before  Israel  in  the 
wilderness  march.  Qerlach  says 
that  "  the  reason  why  God  alone 
passed  through,  and  not  Abram  also, 
is  because  the  covenant  was  one  of 
grace,  and  God,  before  all,  gives  His 
grace  ere  He  requires  anything  on 
man's  part.  Its  aim  was  to  strength- 
en Abram  m  his  sure  trust  that  God 
would  fulfil  what  He  had  promised." 


18.  In  that  same  day.  There  fol- 
lows immediately  now  the  solemn 
declaration,  to  which  all  these  cere- 
monies were  meant  to  give  effect. 
'If  Made  a  covenant.  Heb.,  Gut  a 
covenant ;  from  the  ceremony  of  di 
viding  the  animal  in  solemn  memo- 
rial and  ratification  of  it.  Abram's 
part  in  the  transaction  was  in  his 
preparation  of  the  victims,  according 
to  the  Divine  mandate,  showing  his 
obedient  spirit,  and  his  habit  of 
faith  in  God's  word.  ^f  Unto  thy 
seed.  Abram  is  now  prepared  to 
hear  that  this  covenant  grant  is 
made  to  his  seed — that  they  shall 
possess  the  land  (after  his  death,) 
and  yet  in  an  important  sense  it 
would  be  his  also  to  possess  in  the 
higher  idea  of  the  better  country. 
If  From  the  river.  The  boundaries 
are  here  distinctly  given — from  the 
Nile  to  the  Euphrates.  It  is  true 
that  the  domain  of  Israel  never 
reached  exactly  to  the  river  Nile. 
But  nothing  between  them  and  the 
Nile  was  independent  of  them.  Vir- 
tually this  was  the  extent ;  and  aa 
Kurtz  remarks,  these  two  rivers  are 
considered  here  as  the  representa- 
tives of  the  two  great  powers  of  the 
East  and  of  the  West,  and  the 
meaning  of  the  promise  is,  that  the 
land  and  commonwealth  of  the  de- 
scendants of  Abram  should  be  inde- 
pendent, and  continue  by  the  side  of 
and  between  these  two  empires,  and 
that  no  other  empire  or  nation 
should  permanently  bear  independ- 
ent sway  in  the  districts  which  lay 
between  Judea  and  these  two  great 
empires.  Qerlach  says,  "  In  thia 
prophecy    the    boundaries    of    the 


274 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2006. 


20  And  the  Hittites,  and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  llephaim, 
2L  And  the  Amorites,  and  the  Oanaanites,  and  the  Girgashites, 
and  the  Jebusites. 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

OW  Sarai,  Abram's  wife,  a  bare  him  no  children :    and  she 
had  an  handmaid,  b  an  Egyptian,  whose  name  was  c  Hagar. 


N 


rh.  15  :  2,  3.    b  ch.  21  :  9.     c  Gal.  4  :  24 


promised  land  are  extended  as  far 
as  they  would  have  been,  had 
Israel  continued  faithful  to  the 
Lord." 

19-21.  Kenites,  etc.  These  are  the 
ten  principal  nations  then  occupying 
this  territory  of  promise.  Of  these, 
five  probably  are  Canaanite  tribes, 
and  five  are  not.  The  Kenites  dwelt 
upon  the  southern  border,  (Num. 
13  :  29  ;  24  :  20-22  ;  Judg.  1  :  16 ;  1 
Sam.  15  :  6.)  They  mingled  with 
the  Midianites,  and  were  friendly  to 
the  Israelites,  (1  Chron.  2 :  55.) 
If  KenizziUs  were  in  affinity  with 
the  Horites,  and  also  dwelt  on  the 
south  border  towards  Egypt,  (ch. 
36  :  11,  20-23  ;  Jos.  15  :  17 ;  1  Chron. 
1:50-54.)  %  TJie  Kadmonites.  These 
wrere  on  the  east,  as  their  name  im- 
ports, and  possibly  included  several 
tribes,  in  that  region,  towards  the 
Euphrates.  These  three  tribes  it  is 
probable  were  related  to  Abram  as 
descendants  of  Shem. 

20,  21.  These  other  seven  tribes 
have  been  already  noticed. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

§  37.  Hagar  and  Ishmael. 

Here  occurs  a  trial  of  Abram's 
faith  in  the  very  line  of  the  cove- 
nant promise.  It  came  upon  him 
through  his  wife,  like  the  first 
temptation  in  the  garden.  It  had 
been  promised  to  Abram  that  he 
should  become  a  father  (ch.  15  :  4.) 
Ft  r  the  third  time  this  promise  of  a 
numberless  posterity  had  been  re- 
peated to  him,  but,  as  yet  no  men- 
tion had  been  made  of  Sarai.  Her 
unbelief  could  not  prevail   against 


the  present  appearances,  and  in  her 
impatience  of  realizing  the  results, 
she  proposed  an  expedient,  as  unbe- 
lief is  always  ready  to  do.  It  was 
under  the  guise  of  aiding  God  to 
carry  out  His  promise,  but  it  was  in 
the  spirit  of  distrust,  unwilling  to 
wait  only  upon  God.  Abram  had 
qow  lived  in  the  land  of  promise  ten 
years,  and  went  childless  towards 
his  grave,  already  eighty-five  years 
old.  And  this  delay  and  discourage- 
ment had  just  now  been  relieved  in 
a  great  measure  by  God's  expres8 
assurance  to  himself  that  he  should 
have  an  heir  of  his  own  blood.  But 
he  yields  to  the  suggestion  which 
promises  to  hasten  God's  work,  and 
which  brings  in  human  methods  to 
trust  in  place  of  God.  It  was  in 
God's  plan  to  foreshadow  here  the 
miraculous  seed  by  bringing  forth  a 
son  from  Sarai,  contrary  to  all  nat- 
ural powers ;  and  in  this  respect, 
Isaac  was  to  be  a  personal  type  of 
Christ  Jesus.  But  the  natural  heart 
resorts  to  its  own  natural  and  hu- 
man schemes,  not  believing  fully  in 
Him  who  quickens  the  dead,  and 
calls  the  things  that  are  not,  as 
though  they  were,  (Rom.  4 :  17,  18.) 
This  may  seem  the  more  excusable 
in  Sarai,  as  it  was  an  expedient  re- 
sorted to  in  the  East  for  perpetuating 
one's  household,  when  all  other  hope 
seemed  to  bo  gone.  And  it  was,  for 
her  part,  a  renouncing  of  the  house- 
hold glory  which  she  thus  yields  to 
a  subordinate.  It  was  a  method  of 
raising  a  family  by  proxy,  and  it 
was  a  virtual  adoption  of  the  vica- 
rious posterity — the  concubine  tvas 
said  to  bear  the  child  "upon  the 
knees  "  of  the  wife,  (ch.  80 :  3.)    But 


B  C.200G.] 


CHAPTER  XV. 


275 


2  d  And  Sarai  said  unto  Abram,  Behold  now,  the  Lord  e  hath 
restrained  me  from  bearing:  I  pray  thee  f'go  in  unto  my  maid  ; 
it  may  be  that  I  may  obtain  children  by  her.  And  Abram  S  heark- 
ened to  the  voice  of  Sarai. 

3  And  Sarai,  Abram's  wife,  took  Hagar  her  maid  the  Egyp- 
tian, after  Abram  h  had  dwelt  ten  years  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
and  gave  her  to  her  husband  Abram  to  be  his  wife. 

d  ch. 
12:5. 


3.     e  ch.  20  :  18  ;   30  :  2.    1  Sam.  1 : 5,  6.     f  ch.  30  ;   3,  9.     g  ch.  3  :  IT.    h  ch. 


Sarai's  faith  will  yet  triumph,  (Heb. 
11:11.) 

1.  The  fact  is  here  stated  upon 
which  the  narrative  proceeds.  ^[  An 
handmaid — 7raidiaK7j.  This  term  is 
used  by  Greek  writers  to  signify  a 
young  girl,  whether  slave  or  free. 
The  Sept.,  however,  and  the  New 
Testament  use  it  in  the  sense  of 
slave.  See  Matt.  26  :  69  ;  Mark  14 :  66, 
69;Lukel2:45;22:56;Johnl8:17; 
Acts  16 :  16.  Here  it  means  a  bond- 
icoman,  in  contrast  with  a  free  wo- 
man, as  Paul  explains  and  argues, 
(Gal.  4:22.)  This  history,  as  the 
New  Testament  explains,  has  in  it  a 
profound  meaning,  and  is  meant  to 
foresignify  the  two  elements  in  the 
household  of  Abram — the  bond  and 
the  free,  the  legal  and  gospel  classes 
— the  Ishmael  and  Isaac  children — 
and  so  Sarai  and  Hagar,  though 
true  historical  characters,  have  a 
history  here  which  is  to  be  allegorized, 
(Gal.  4.)  As  in  the  family  of  Adam 
there  was  a  Cain,  and  in  the  family 
of  Noah  a  Ham,  as  the  element  of 
evil,  so  in  the  covenant  family  of 
Abram  there  will  be  an  Ishmael.  A 
bondwoman  might  be  disposed. of  as 
the  mistress  pleased  (vs.  6.)  And  by 
the  law,  the  children  of  such  a  bond- 
woman would  be  slaves,  (Exod. 
21 : 4.)  ^[  An  Egyptian.  She  was 
probably  obtained  by  him  when  in 
Egypt,  and  perhaps  wa?  a  present  to 
him  from  Pharoah,  (ch.  12  :  16.) 
^[  Hagar.  The  name  means,  com- 
monly, flight,  from  which  also  the 
Mohammedan  term,  "  Hegira " 
(flight.)  This  name  may  have  been 
given  to  her  from  her  after  history. 
Paul,  in  the  Galatians,  dwells  upon 


the  name  Hagar,  as  being  the  name 
of  Mount  Sinai  in  Arabia,  denoting 
the  legal  position.  And  it  would 
seem  that  Sinai  was  so  called,  be- 
cause Hagar,  in  Arabic,  signifies  a 
rock,  (Gal.  4.)  And  this  incidental 
fact  Paul  uses  to  show  the  relation 
between  the  legal  and  the  Gospel 
dispensations,  and  between  the  two 
classes  of  children  in  Abram's  house 
— the  spiritual  seed  being  those  of 
Sarah  (the  free  woman)  represented 
by  Isaac,  the  carnal  being  those  of 
Hagar  (the  bond-woman)  represented 
by  Ishmael.  Hagar  represented  the 
the  Mosaic  Sinaitic  dispensation,  and 
her  children  were  born  in  bondage 
to  the  law  (Judaizing)  and  yet,  ac- 
cording to  nature,  having  the  hus- 
band ;  while  Sarai  typified  the  Gos- 
pel system,  and  represented  the 
church,  long  barren,  till  the  gift  of  a 
progeny — the  miraculous  seed — ac- 
cording to  promise. 

2.  Sarai  now  comes  forward  with 
her  expedient,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom at  the  East.  Children  were 
deemed  of  so  much  value,  not  mere- 
ly from  the  paternal  affection,  but 
because  of  the  constitution  of  socie- 
ty, as  the  oriental  household  formed 
a  clan  and  tribe,  which  was  relied 
on  for  defence  and  avenging  of  blood, 
as  well  as  for  the  preserving  of  the 
name  and  heritage.  ^[  Restrained. 
Heb.  and  Sept.,  Shut  me  up.  ^f  Ob- 
tain children.  The  Heb.  term  for 
son  is  Ben,  and  here  the  verb  is 
Banah,  which  means  to  build ;  and 
here,  "I  shall  be  built  up,"  (Deut. 
25:9;  Ruth.  4:11.) 

3.  Sarai  is  here  designated  aa 
"Abram's  wife"  and  it  is  in  he? 


276 


GENESIS. 


[B.  0.  2006 


4  %  And  he  went  in  unto  Hagar,  and  she  conceived :  and 
when  she  saw  that  she  had  conceived,  her  mistress  was  i  despised 
in  her  eyes. 

5  And  Sarai  said  unto  Abram,  My  wrong  he  upon  thee:  I  have 
given  my  maid  into  thy  bosom :  and  when  she  saw  that  she  had 
conceived,  I  was  despised  in  her  eyes :  k  the  Lord  judge  between 
me  and  thee. 

6  ]  But  Abram  said  unto  Sarai,  m  Behold,  thy  maid  is  in  thine 

i  2  Sam.  6  :  16  ;  Prov.  30  :  21, 23.    k  ch.  31  :  53  ;  1  Sam.  24  :  12.     1  Prov.  15:  1 ;  1  Pet.  3  :  7. 
m  Job  2  :  6 ;  Psa.  106  :  41,  42  ;  Jer.  38  :  5. 


place  that  she  puts  Hagar  "to  her 
husband  Abram  to  be  his  wife" 
Ileb.,  For  a  wife.  *fi"  After  Abram. 
This  clause  is  here  thrown  in  as  if 
to  show  the  pressure  of  discourage- 
ment under  which  Sarai  acted  in 
this  matter.  "After  Abram  had 
dwelt  ten  years  in  the  land  of  Ca- 
naan," and  remained  childless.  He 
was  now  eighty-five  years  old,  and 
Sarai  seventy-five.  She  was  to  be 
to  Abram  "for  a  wife  " — to  serve  the 
purpose  of  a  wife  in  this  extremity. 
By  the  custom,  the  children  of  the 
concubine  became  the  offspring  of 
the  wife  herself,  being  regarded  as 
obtained  by  proxy,  and  in  a  vicari- 
ous, substitutionary  way,  so  that 
they  were  reckoned  as  hers  by  adop- 
tion, (See  Exod.  21 :  7  ;  Deut.  21 :  10.) 
Abram  might  have  felt  himself  at 
liberty  to  accede  to  this  proposed 
arrangement,  inasmuch  as  nothing 
had  been  said  of  Sarai  in  the  case. 
So  the  Hebrews  have  viewed  Abram's 
conduct.  And  Malachi  blamed  those 
who  felt  at  liberty  to  take  another 
besides  their  lawful  wife,  as  it  would 
be  treachery,  while  in  Abram's  case 
it  was  "that  he  might  seek  a  godly 
seed."  T[  Gave  her  to  Abram.  The 
slave  girl  was  at  the  disposal  of  the 
mistress  —  her  personal  property — 
according  to  the  oriental  custom ; 
and  it  was  only  by  consent  of  Sarai 
that  she  could  become  the  secondary 
wife  of  Abram — that  is,  the  concu- 
bine. And  this  step  was  taken  for  a 
decl  ired  purpose,  and  to  fulfil  the 
promise  of  God.  But  the  wrong  was 
in  the   unbelief   which    could    not 


trust  God  to  work  out  His  own  plans 
and  to  fulfil  his  own  promise  without 
such  human  device.  Sarai  herself 
would  soon  see  the  wrong,  and  reap 
the  bitter  fruits. 

4.  The  result  of  this  unbelieving 
measure  is  now  painfully  manifest. 
The  slave-woman,  elevated  to  this 
honorable  position  in  Abram's  house, 
looks  already  with  contempt  upon 
Sarai.  As  Solomon  has  remarked, 
"An  handmaid  that  is  heir  to  her 
mistress,"  is  a  trouble  in  the  earth, 
(Prov.  30  :  23.)  Sarai  was  despised 
and  reproached,  doubtless,  for  her 
childless  estate,  which  was  so  dis- 
graceful among  the  orientals ;  and 
Hagar,  it  would  seem,  scorned  her 
on  this  account,  boasting  insolently 
of  her  own  advantage  over  her. 
This  is  the  wrong  of  abolishing  all 
proper  social  distinctions. 

5.  My  wrong,  etc.  Sept.,  I  am  in- 
jured by  thee.  Onk.,  1  hate  a  com- 
plaint against  thee.  Sam.  Vers.,  My 
oppression  be  on  thee.  Targ.  Jer., 
My  judgment  and  abuse  are  deliver- 
ed into  thine  hands.  You  are  to 
blame  for  the  wrong  done  me.  You 
are  the  cause,  and  ought  to  redress 
the  wrong.  Sarai  felt  now  jealous 
of  her  who  had  supplanted  her,  and 
she  suspected  that  her  husband  had 
transferred  his  affection  to  Hagar,  or 
was,  at  least,  indifferent  to  the  con- 
temptuous treatment  of  herself. 
1"  The  Lord  judge.  Sarai  made  a 
solemn  appeal  to  Jehovah,  the  cove- 
nant God.  But  she  did  it  in  the 
spirit  of  rashness  and  peevishness, 
stung  most  with  self-reproach. 


B.  C.  2006  ] 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


277 


hand ;  do  to  her  as  it  pleaseth  thee.    And  when  Sarai  dealt  hardly 
with  her,  n  she  fled  from  her  face. 

7  ^[  And  the  angel  of  the  Loeo  found  her  by  a  fountain  ot 
water  in  the  wilderness,  °  by  the  fountain  in  the  way  to  P  Shur. 


n  Exod.  2  :  15.    o  ch.  25  :  13.    p  Exod.  15 :  22 


6.  Abram  has  now  another  trial  of 
his  spirit,  and  another  occasion  for 
displaying  the  power  of  Divine  grace 
in  his  heart  and  life.  He  replies 
calmly  and  fairly,  recognizing  Sa- 
rai's  unimpaired  right  as  mistress 
of  the  household,  and  as  his  own 
proper  wife,  entitled  to  his  affection, 
while  he  accorded  to  her  the  right 
to  dispose  of  Hagar  as  she  pleased. 
*f  Thy  maid.  Hagar  is  yet  only 
Sarai's  bondmaid.  ^[  In  thine  hand. 
At  thy  disposal,  ^f  Bo  to  her,  etc. 
Heb.,  Do  to  her  the  good  in  thine 
eyes.  Sept.,  Treat  her  as  is  best  to 
thee.  Though  all  his  future  hopes 
stood  now  bound  up  in  this  son  of 
Hagar,  yet  he  was  ready  even  to 
give  up  this  child  for  the  peace  of 
Sarai,  just  as  he  was  ready,  at  a 
later  period,  to  give  up  Sarai's  son 
to  the  command  of  God.  *{[  Dealt 
hardly.  Heb.,  And  Sarai  oppressed 
her.  Jew.  Bib.,  Humiliated  her.  The 
same  word  is  rendered  afflict  in  ch. 
15  :  13.  Sarai  put  upon  her  such 
grievances,  doubtless,  as  she  could 
not  bear.  And  she  fled  from  her 
presence.  There  was  overbearing 
and  severity  on  the  part  of  the  mis- 
tress as  well  as  insolence  on  the  part 
of  the  servant.  How  much  of  the 
jarring  and  conflict  in  households 
between  housekeepers  and  domestics 
comes  of  indiscretion  and  petulancy 
on  the  part  of  the  former.  The 
loud  complaint  about  servants  some- 
times has  its  root  in  the  temper  of 
the  employers,  especially  in  the  lack 
of  domestic  piety,  and  in  the  preva- 
lence of  personal  pride  and  overbear- 
ing. 

7.  TJie  angel  of  the  Lord — of  Jeho- 
vah. This  is  the  first  occurrence  of 
this  remarkable  title  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. It  is  found  thirty-three 
times  besides,  and  plainly  designates 


the  Angel  of  the  Covenant — the  Sec- 
ond Person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity — 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — as  the  cove- 
nant name  of  God  is  Jcnovah.  He 
is  the  same  yrl^  appeared  to  Moses 
out  of  the  bush,  Exod.  3  :  2,  4,  "  the 
Messenger  of  the  covenant"  —  the 
Mediator  in  all  the  relations  of  God 
to  the  world,  who  appeared  to  men 
under  the  Old  Testament,  and  di- 
rected the  whole  visible  theocracy. 
See  ch.  16 :  7,  11,  13  ;  18  :  14,  17 ; 
19  :  24;  21  :  17,  18;  22  :  11,  13,  14; 

31  :  11,  13  ;  32  :  25-30  ;  48  :  15,  16 ; 
Exod.  3  :  2,  4,  6,  14-16  ;  23  :  20-23 ; 

32  :  34  ;  33  :  14,  15  ;  Josh.  5  :  14  ; 
6:2;  Judg.  6  :  11,  14,  15,  18,  22  ; 
13  :  3,  6,  21,  22,  etc.  And  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  title  is  used  inter- 
changeably with  that  of  Jehovah. 
See  also  Zech.  1  :  11,  12  ;  3  :  1,  5,  6  ; 
12  :  8,  where  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
will  be  seen  to  be  quite  a  different 
personage  from  "  the  interpreting  an- 
gel." The  title  is  employed  to  de- 
note Jehovah  as  manifested  in  visi- 
ble, personal  form  among  men.  See 
Exod.  23  :  21.  And  Jehovah  is  spo- 
ken of  as  a  distinct  person  from  the 
angel  of  the  Lord,  who  is  also  called 
the  Lord  (Jehovah.)  The  phraseolo- 
gy indicates  to  us  a  certain  inherent 
plurality  within  the  essence  of  the 
one  only  God,  of  which  we  have  had 
previous  indications,  (ch.  1:1,  26  ; 
3  :  22.)  It  would  seem  to  denote  the 
revealer  of  the  Godhead  in  angelic 
form.  In  this  paragraph  "  the  angel 
of  Jehovah  "  is  called  "  Jehovah," 
vs.  13.  And  he  appears  in  such  ca- 
pacities of  predicting  and  promising 
as  belongs  to  God  alone.  ^  By  the 
fountain  on  the  icay  to  Shur.  Hagar 
seems  to  have  made  her  way  to- 
wards Egypt,  as  if  aiming  to  return 
thither.  Her  route  lay  from  Hebron 
through    the    wilderness    of    Shur, 


278 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2006 


8  And  he  said,  Hagar,  Sarai's  maid,  whence  earnest  thou  ?  and 
whither  wilt  thou  go  ?  And  she  said,  I  flee  from  the  face  of  my 
mistress  Sarai. 

9  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  said  unto  her,  Return  to  thy  mis- 
tress, and  q  submit  thyself  under  her  hands. 

10  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  said  unto  her,  rI  will  multiply 
thy  seed  exceedingly,  that  it  shall  not  be  numbered  for  multi- 
tude. 

11  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  said  unto  her,  Behold,  thou  art 
with  child,  and  shalt  bear  a  son,  s  and  shalt  call  his  name  Ish- 
mael ;  because  the  Lord  hath  heard  thy  affliction. 


q  Tit.  2 
1  :  13,  31. 


;  1  Pet  2  :  18.    r  ch.  IT  :  20  ;  21 :  18  ;  25  :  12.     s  cli.  17  :  19 ;  Matt.  1  :  21 ;   Luke 


which,  stretched  from  the  southwest 
corner  of  Palestine  to  the  head  of 
the  Red  Sea.  There  is  a  caravan 
road  through  this  wilderness  or  des- 
ert to  this  day.  Plutarch  describes 
the  road  as  leading  through  deep 
sand  and  a  waterless  country,  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 

8.  Hagar,  Sarai's  maid.  The  an- 
gel of  the  covenant  calls  the  poor 
wanderer  by  name,  designates  her 
true  relation  as  "  the  maid  of  Sarai," 
and  not  the  wife  of  Abram,  and  asks 
her  questions,  not  for  information, 
but  for  drawing  out  her  honest  re- 
ply. The  answer  was  honest  and 
definite,  and  she  recognizes  her  old 
and  true  relation  to  her  "mistress 
Sarai."  This  would  indicate  some 
softening  of  her  spirit,  left  as  she 
was  to  her  reflection,  and  cast  out 
upon  that  dreary  desert  alone,  and 
now  also  met  by  the  covenant  angel, 
who  was  ready  to  counsel  her,  and 
to  do  her  good.  If  her  heart  was 
now  humbled  so  as  to  own  her  mis- 
tress, and  cease  her  proud  boasting 
over  her,  why  might  she  not  return  ? 
She  would  probably  have  perished 
on  the  route  of  weariness  and  thirst. 

9.  Return.  She  was,  doubtless, 
reminded  that  all  her  honor  and 
happiness  must  lie  in  her  connexion 
with  Abiam's  household — that  she 
did  a  great  wrong  to  flee  from  such 
religious  associations  to  her  heathen 
land  —  that  she  could  even  rather 
suffer  wrong  than  do  wrong — that 


like  Lot,  she  would  bitterly  rue  her 
departure,  if  she  had  not  already 
done  it — that  her  expected  issue  had 
no  prospect,  except  as  being  the  son 
and  heir  of  Abram — and  that,  there- 
fore, and  on  every  account,  she 
should  return.  ^[  Submit  thyself. 
Heb.,  Humble  thyself  (the  same  term 
as  is  used  in  vs.  6)  under  her  hands 
— in  subjection  to  her,  as  her  ser- 
vant— making  no  offensive  preten- 
sions, and  casting  no  reflections  on 
account  of  the  circumstances  which 
had  so  exalted  her  in  Abram's  house. 
Thus  Abram  was  to  become  a  bles- 
sing to  her,  as  to  Lot,  (ch.  12.) 

10.  The  covenant  angel  now  adds 
a  promise,  which  is  highly  calcu- 
lated to  encourage  and  cheer  Hagar. 
It  is  manifest  that  the  angel  claims 
to  be  Jehovah  Himself.  He  prom- 
ises here  to  do  what  Jehovah  alone 
can  perform.  Heb.,  Multiplying  1 
will  multiply  thy  seed.  I  will  greatly 
multiply  it.  The  promise  of  a  vast 
progeny,  such  as  Abram  had  thrice 
received.     See  ch.  17,  20. 

11.  A  son.  The  hope  of  a  Hebrew 
household  lay  in  the  son,  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  family  name,  and 
the  protector  and  perpetuator  of  the 
family  line.  A  daughter  was  held 
in  small  estimation  among  the  Ori- 
entals. If  Ishmael.  Heb.,  God  will 
hear  ;  or,  Heard  of  God.  Sept.,  God 
hath  given  heed  to  thy  affliction.  It 
was  in  God's  plan  to  increase  the 
family    of    Abram   in    the  Ishmael 


B.  C.  200<5.] 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


279 


12  *  And  he  will  be  a  wild  man  ;  his  hand  will  be  against  every 
man,  and  every  man's  hand  against  him  ;  u  and  he  shall  dwell  in 
the  presence  of  all  his  brethren. 

t  ch.  21  :  20.     u  ch.  25  :  18. 


branch,  for  Abranrs  sake.  This  son 
is  to  be  trained  in  the  family  of  the 
patriarch  in  order  to  be  capable  of 
obtaining  the  measure  of  blessing 
reserved  for  him.  Here  is  a  memo- 
rial in  his  very  name  of  that  Divine 
interposition  to  which  his  life,  first 
and  last,  would  be  due.  And  wheth- 
er Hagar  distinctly  prayed  to  God  or 
not,  He  heard  her  groans  and  sighs, 
and  came  to  her  relief  for  the  cove- 
nant's sake. 


maelites  inhabit  Arabia  Deserta, 
traversing  east  to  the  Euphrates, 
north  to  Syria,  west  to  Palestine, 
and  south  into  the  peninsula  of  Ara- 
bia Proper.  They  roamed  every- 
where in  the  adjacent  districts.  And 
so  he  might  be  said  to  dwell  in  the 
'presence  of  (or  before)  all  Ids  brethren. 
Kurtz  reads,  To  the  east  of  all  his 
brethren ;  but  this  is  not  the  He- 
brew sense.  It  is  Al-penH.  The 
term  here  for  "  dwelt "  is  tabernacle. 


12.  A  icild  man.    Heb.,  A  wild-ass  \  He  shall  pitch  his  tent.     And  the 
man.    Onk.,  A  wild  ass  among  men.  \  meaning  of  the  clause  is — he  shall 
Jew.  Bib.,  A  wild  ass  of  a  man.     Ae  [  follow  his  nomadic,  roaming  life,  in- 
dependently of  his  brethren,  and  un- 
subdued   by    them.      His    brethren 


the  wild  ass  delights  in  the  freedom 
of  its  native  deserts,  and  brooks  no 
restraint,  so  shall  he  be — "  used  to  the 
wilderness,  she  snuffeth  up  the  wind 
at  her  pleasure,"  (Jer  2  :  24,)  and 
"  in  the  desert  they  go  forth  to  their 


may  mean  the  other  branches  of  the 
Abrahamic  household — the  Midian- 
ites,  Edomites,  and  Israelites ;  or  it 
may  include  all  people.     And  this  is 


work,  rising  betimes  for  a  prey,  the  the  history  of  this  wonderful  people, 
wilderness  yieldeth  food  for  them  i  that  they  have  seated  themselves 
and  for  their  children,"  (Job  24  :  5.)  ;  down  where  they  have  pleased,  and 
See  also  Job  39  :  5,  6.  These  are  i  have  not  been  subjugated  by  their 
the  wild  roaming  Bedouin  Arab  brethren.  And  their  history  is  just- 
tribes  of  the  desert,  the  descendants  i  ly  claimed  as  a  clear  confirmation  of 
of  Ishmael.  ^[  His  hand  {will  be)  j  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  record. 
against  every  man,  etc.  Their  proverb  j  "  Every  addition  to  our  knowledge 
is,  "  In  the  desert  every  one  is  every  j  of  Arabia  and  its  inhabitants,"  says 


one's  enemy."  The  tribes  are  known 
as  given  to  plunder ;  and  around  the 
Dead  Sea,  travellers  must  bargain 
with  their  shiekhs  at  Jerusalem  at 
so  much. per  head,  to  guarantee  them 
against  their  depredations.  In  such 
case  a  bevy  of  the  men — a  dozen  or 
more — is  detailed  as  a  guard,  who  j 
accompany  the  sheikhs  to  protect  the 


Kalisch,  "confirms  more  strongly 
the  Biblical  statements.  These  Ish- 
maelites  became  formidable  in  his- 
tory under  the  name  of  Saracens. 
They  marched  out  to  curb  the  world 
to  their  dominion,  and  to  force  the 
nations  to  their  faith ;  they  inun- 
dated Persia,  the  districts  east  of  the 
Caspian  Sea  and  India  ;  they  carried 


travellers.  Our  company  was  at-  j  their  victorious  arms  into  Syria  and 
tended  by  such  a  squad"  of  these  !  Egypt,  and  the  interior  of  Africa ; 
tawny,  wiry  creatures,  who  went  i  they  occupied  Spain  and  Portugal, 
skipping  up  the  hill-sides,  armed  I  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  and  have  be- 
with  their  long  muskets,  and  often  \  yond  their  native  tracts,  ascended 
firing  at  game  which  they  might    more  than  a  hundred  thrones.     Al- 


meet.  The  protection,  purchased  at 
five  dollars  per  head  for  each  travel- 
ler, is  never  violated.     These   Ish- 


though  they  sent  presents  ^  incense 
to  Persia,  and  of  cattle  to  Jehosha- 
phat  king  of  Judah,  they  were  never 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  2000 


13  And  she  called  the  name  of  the  Loed  that  spake  unto  her, 
Thou  God  seest  me :  for  she  said,  Have  I  also  here  looked  after 
him  w  that  seeth  me  ? 

14  Wherefore  the  well  was  called  x  Beer-lahai-roi ;  behold,^ 
is  y  between  Kadesh  and  Bered. 

15  ^  And  *  Hagar  bare  Abram  a  son:  and  Abrani  called  his 
son's  name,  which  Hagar  bare,  a  Ishmael. 


w  ch.  31 :  42.     x  ch.  24 


25:11.     y  Num.  13 


z  Gal.  4  :  22.     a  vs.  11. 


subjected    to    the    Persian    empire. 
They  are  expressly  mentioned  as  in- 
dependent allies.     Xor  had  the  As- 
syrian and  Babylonian  kings  more 
than   transitory   power   oyer    small 
portions   of  their  tribes.     Here  the  j 
ambition  of  Alexander  the  great  and 
of   his    successors   received    an    in-  I 
superable  cli?ck,  and  a  Roman  ex- 
pedition in   the   time   of  Augustus  | 
totally  failed.     The  Bedouins  haye  ; 
remained  essentially  unaltered  since  | 
the  times  of  the  Hebrews  and  the  | 
Greeks."     These  Arab  tribes  justify 
their  robberies  by  referring  to  the  ; 
treatment  of  their  ancestor  Ishmael,  : 
and     his     wilderness     heritage,     as 
though  he  had  free  permission  to  j 
seize  all  he  could  find  there. 

13.  Name  of  the  Lord.  Heb.,  TJie 
name  of  Jehovah.  If  Thou  God  seest 
me.  Heb.,  Thou  (art  a)  God  of  see- 
ing— of  vision — or  of  visibility — who 
reveahst  thyself.  As  her  son  was  to 
be  called,  The  Lord  hath  heard — or 
Hard  of  God,  so  here  she  calls  the 
name  of  Jehovah  who  spake  with  ht  r 
(the  covenant  angel)  Thou  God  of 
vision.  God  sees  as  well  as  hears, 
or  shows  Himself — like  " Peniel — 
the  face  of  God,"  (ch.  32  :  30.)  The 
idea,  most  probably,  is,  Thou  art  a 
God  that  gracionsly  revealed  thyself. 
"In  the  mount  the  Lord  shall  be 
seen."  *~  Looked.  The  idea  is  here 
expressed  which  prompted  the  name. 
Heb.,  Have  I  indeed  here  seen  after  the 
virion  ;  or,  TJie  lack  parts  of  my  seer 
— of  Him  who  saw  me.  See  Exod. 
33  :  23.  Iri  Exod.  33  :  20,  God  de- 
clared to  Moses  that  "  no  man  should 
see  His  face  ali  re."  And  it  was  only 
His  back  that  He  would  show  him. 


And  this  may  express  a  similar  sen- 
timent— either  of  surprise  at  haying 
seen  God,  and  suryiyed  the  sight,  or 
at  haying  been  permitted  to  see 
even  the  hidings  of  Himself.  Ge- 
senius,  Tueh,  Knobel,  etc.  take  the 
former  yiew.  Sept.,  For  L  have 
plainly  seen  Him  that  appeared  unto 
me.  Syr.,  Behold  1  have  seen  a  vis- 
ion after  He  saw  me.  Benisch  ;  Ho  1 
even  still  see  (liye)  after  seeing  (God  ?) 
So  Gesenius  ;  Do  I  then  here  see  (liye) 
also  after  the  vision  (to  wit,  of  God) 
The  term  rendered  "  here,"  (says  Ge- 
smius  in  his  Thesaurus,)  "properly 
means  a  striking  of  the  foot  on  the 
ground,  as  indicating  the  source 
whence  the  speaker  sprung. 

14.  Wlierefore  the  well.  Heb.,  One 
called  (to)  the  well.  (Every  one — ■ 
people  called  it)  it  was  called.  The 
well  of  a  living  one  seeing  (God.)  Tlie 
well  of  one  seeing  (God)  and  living — 
Be  n  isch .  Or,  Th  e  well  of  th  e  living  on  e, 
my  Seer.  Or,  The  fountain  of  the 
living  who  beholds  me. — Kurtz.  Or, 
"  Well  of  life  of  vision,  i.  e.,  of  life 
after  a  vision  of  God,"  (Judg.  G  :  22.) 
The  site  of  this  well  has  lately  been 
discovered.  Its  present  name  is 
MailahM- Hagar  —  (JLai  meaning 
water,  as  Beer  means  well.)  It  lies 
about  twelve  miles  from  Kadesh,  on 
the  great  road  from  Beersheba  to 
Jebel  es  8ur.  Xear  it  is  a  ruin,  now 
called  Beit  Hagar  (house  of  Hagar) 
—  Williams'  Holy  City.  Throughout 
the  patriarchal  history  this  naming 
of  localities  by  such  significant, 
memorial  names  is  common  and 
interesting.  Such  a  well  or  stone 
was  a  traditional  remembrancer 
of    great     religious    events,    calcu- 


B.  C.  1994] 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


281 


16  And  Abram  was  fourscore  and  six  years  old,  when  Hagar 
bare  Ishmael  to  Abram. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

AND  when  Abram  was  ninety  years  old  and  nine,  the  Lord 
a  appeared  to  Abram,  and  said*  unto  him,  b  I  am  the  Almigh- 
ty God  ;  c  walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  d  perfect. 

a  ch.  12  :  1.    b  ch.  28  :  3  ;  35  ;  11  ;  Exod.  6:3;  Deut.  10  :  17.     c  ch.  5:  22  ;  4S  :  15  ;  1  Kin^s 
2  :  4  ;  8  :  25 ;  2  Kings  20  :  3.    d  ch.  6  :  9  ;  Deut  18  :  13  ;  Job.  1:1;  Matt.  5  :  48. 


lated  to  preserve  the  history,  and 
hand  it  down,  instead  of  books  and 
records. 

15, 16.  Fourscore  and  six.  Heb.,  The 
son  of  fourscore  and  six  years.  Ha- 
gar returned  into  the  house  of  Abram, 
to  whom  she  communicated  the  Di- 
vine vision.  Here  the  prophecy  of 
the  angel  was  realized.  She  bore  a 
son,  who  was  called  Ishmael.  But 
the  text  states,  with  a  marked  dis- 
tinctness, that  she  bare  this  son  to 
Abram,  and  that  Abram  gave  him 
the  name  Ishmael.  The  patriarch 
believed  that  this  son  of  Hagar  was 
the  promised  and  long-desired  off- 
spring, through  whom  he  was  to  be 
a  blessing  to  later  generations.  He 
was,  therefore,  anxious  to  mark  him 
as  his  son ;  and  he  did  this  by  giv- 
ing him  the  name  appointed  by  the 
angel.  See  Kalisch.  But  the  patri- 
arch must  wait  yet  fourteen  years 
before  the  son  of  promise — the  cove- 
nant son  Isaac — shall  be  granted  to 
him.  Then  also  Ishmael  is  cast  out 
with  his  mother  at  the  stern  de- 
mand of  Sarai,  but  is  met  again  and 
saved  from  a  death  in  the  wilder- 
ness by  the  same  angel  of  the  cove- 
nant, (ch.  21.) 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

§  38.  Second  Stage  of  the  Cove- 
nant— Covenant  Sealed — Cnt- 
ctjmcision — Abraham,  Sarah. 

The  time  is  now  at  hand  when 
the  covenant  son  is  to  be  born  to 
Abram  and  Sarai.      Thirteen  years  ! 
the  patriarch  has  waited  since  Jeho-  j 


vah  last  appeared  to  him,  and  his. 
faith  that  was  "  counted  to  him  for' 
righteousness  "  has  been  undergoing 
a  severe  but  silent  test.  It  now  ap- 
pears that  the  natural  defect  which 
Sarai  had -planned  to  relieve  by  the 
substitution  of  Hagar  in  her  stead, 
was  to  be  met,  not  by  that  carnal 
expedient,  but  by  the  almighty 
power  of  God.  That  which  could 
not  be  reached  by  nature  was  to  be 
secured  by  promise,  in  the  miracu- 
lous seed,  thus  pointing  forward  to 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Therefore  the 
time  has  come  when,  after  having 
first  allowed  the  unbelieving  spirit 
to  make  proof  of  human  expedients 
(1  Cor.  1  :  20),  God  will  show  Him- 
self  again,  and  place  the  fulfilment 
on  the  basis  of  the  promise  alone, 
(Gal.  3  :  18.)  The  covenant,  there- 
fore, must  now  be  solemnly  and  for- 
mally sealed.  Abram  can  as  yet 
see  no  prospect  of  the  fulfilment, 
except  in  the  person  of  Ishmael  (vs. 
18.)  But  God  assures  him  that  "  in 
Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called,"  vs. 
19,  21 ;  while  Ishmael  should  not  be 
overlooked.  This  may  be  regarded 
as  the  second  stage  of  the  covenant. 

1.  Ninety  and  nine  years  old. 
Heb.,  Son  of  ninety  and  nine  years. 
This  was  thirteen  years  after  Ish- 
mael's  birth,  when  the  record  is 
careful  to  fix  his  age  at  eighty-six 
years,  ch.  16  :  16,  thus  keeping  in 
view  the  several  stages  of  the  patri- 
arch's history  under  the  special  treat- 
ment of  his  covenant  God.  «[  T/ie 
Lord  appeared.  Heb.,  Jehovah.  Al- 
ready Jehovah,  the  covenant  God, 
had  appeared  thrice  to  Abram :  first; 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  1994 


2  And  I  will  make  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee,  and 
e  will  multiply  thee  exceedingly. 

3  And  Abram  f fell  on  his  face:   and  God  talked  with  him, 
saying, 

e  ch.  12  :  2  ;  13  :  16  ;  22  :  17.     f  vs.  17. 


to  simply  assure  Mm  that  lie  should 
be  blessed,  and  become  a  blessing 
(ch.  12  :  7) ;  second,  to  promise  to 
him  a  numerous  progeny,  as  the 
dust  of  the  earth  (ch.  13  :  16) ;  third, 
to  repeat  this  assurance,  and  to  liken 
the  number  of  his  seed  to  the  stars 
of  heaven  (ch.  15  :  5.)  The  third 
vision  was  confirmed  by  a  solemn 
ceremony  of  sacrifice,  in  which  God 
appeared  as  the  sole  contracting 
party,  granting  to  Abram  uncondi- 
tionally the  covenant  blessings,  with- 
out requiring  anything  on  his  part. 
Now,  however,  Abram  is  to  enter 
into  the  solemn  covenant  stipula- 
tions, and  to  receive  "  the  sign  and 
seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faith 
which  he  had,  yet  being  uncircum- 
cised,"  (Rom.  4  :  11.)  In  the  pre- 
vious form  or  stage  of  the  cove- 
nant, the  blessing  was  chiefly  that 
of  the  land;  in  this  stage  it  is  of  the 
seed.  And  this  may  be  regarded  as 
a  first  step  taken  in  the  fulfilment. 
Accordingly,  new  names  are  now  to 
be  given  to  Abram  and  Sarav  which 
is  significant  of  a  new  state  of  things, 
and  a  new  character  and  career. 
1  TJie  Almighty  God,  Heb.,  El 
Shaddai.  This  is  the  name  which 
expresses  God's  almightiness,  and  by 
which  He  says  He  was  known  to  the 
patriarchs,  rather  than  by  the  cove- 
nant name  "  Jehovah,"  (Exod.  6  :  3.) 
This  name  is  found  six  times  in 
Genesis,  and  thirty-one  times  in  the 
book  of  Job.  El  means  strong,  un- 
shaken, absolute  ;  Shaddai,  the  Un- 
changeable, Invincible.  This  com- 
pound name,  in  both  parts,  expres- 
ses the  Divine  majesty  and  all-suf- 
ficiency, and  impresses  us  with  His 
sovereign  ability  to  perform  all  that 
He  had  promised.  1  Walk  before 
me.  At  the  former  stage  the  ad- 
dress was,  Fear  not,  as  an  encour- 


agement to  the  timid.  Here  it  is 
something  further  —  a  direction  for 
the  conduct.  The  one  is  rather  nega- 
tive, the  other  positive.  "  Trust  in 
the  Lord,  and  do  good,  so  shalt  thou 
dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily  thou 
shalt  be  fed."  Enoch  and  Noah  walk- 
ed with  God,  and  were  perfect  in 
their  generations.  To  walk  before 
God,  is  to  "  set  the  Lord  always  be- 
fore one's  face,"  to  walk,  "  as  seeing 
Him  who  is  invisible,"  to  "  walk  in 
the  light  of  the  Lord."  *[f  And  be 
thou  perfect.  Not  merely  honest 
and  sincere,  but  holy,  for  God  i3 
holy ;  and  holy  as  God  is  holy.  God 
can  require  nothing  less  than  a  per- 
fect obedience,  else  His  law  would 
be  imperfect,  and  would  allow  of  sin. 
See  ch.  5  :  24 ;  6:9,  notes.  There  is 
a  hint  here  that  Abram  should  aim 
at  a  steadfast  devotedness  to  God, 
relying  fully  on  His  word,  and  not 
trusting  in  carnal  expedients.  "  The 
foundation  of  the  Divine  calling  is  a 
gratuitous  promise.  But  it  follows 
immediately  after,  that  they  whom 
He  has  chosen  as  a  peculiar  people 
to  Himself  should  devote  themselves 
to  the  righteousness  of  God,"  (Rom. 
6  :  I'd.)— Calvin. 

2.  1  will  make  my  covenant.  This 
is  not  the  term  for  making  a  cove- 
nant at  the  outset,  which  is  in  the 
Heb.,  to  cut  a  covenant,  (see  ch.  15 :  18.) 
But  the  verb  means,  I  will  grant,  or 
fix — establish  my  covenant — already 
formally  expressed.  Here  if  was  to 
be  sealed,  and  thus  far  executed  as 
an  instrument  already  signed  by 
God  in  the  former  transaction,  but 
now  to  receive  His  confirmatory 
seal.  ^[  Multiply  thee  exceedingly 
Here  the  covenant  blessing  is  the 
seed,  which  is  a  higher  and  further 
stipulation  than  that  of  the  land. 

3.  Fell  on  his  face.     This  shows 


B.  C.  1994.] 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


4  As  for  me,  behold,  my  covenant  is  with  thee,  and  thou  shalt 
be  S  a  father  of  many  nations. 

■  5  Neither  shall  thy  name  any  more  be  called  Abram  ;  but h  thy 
name  shall  be  Abraham  •,  » for  a  father  of  many  nations  have  T 
made  thee. 

6  And  I  will  make  thee  exceeding  fruitful,  and  I  will  make 
k  nations  of  thee  ;  and  l  kings  shall  come  out  of  thee. 

7  And  I  will  m  establish  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee, 


gRom.  4:11,  12,  16. 
Matt.  1  :  6,  etc.    m  Gal. 


h  Neh.  9  :  7. 
3:  17. 


Rom.  4  :  17.     k  ch.  35  :  11.     1  vs.  10  ;    ch.  35  :  11  ; 


how  profoundly  impressed  the  pa- 
triarch had  now  become  with  God's 
sovereign  majesty.  This  oriental 
prostration  is  still  the  attitude  in 
religious  worship  —  to  fall  on  the 
hands  and  knees,  and  almost  touch 
the  ground  with  the  forehead. 
•jf  And  God  talked  with  Mm.  Heb., 
Spake  with  Mm. 

4.  God  here  repeats  the  great,  high 
covenant  grant.  ^[  As  for  me.  This 
is  on  His  part.  From  vs.  9  He  pass- 
es to  Abram's  part.  God  first  en- 
gages Himself  to  us,  and  then  calls 
on  us  to  engage  ourselves  to  Him. 
A  covenant  supposes  two  parties. 
But  this  is  a  covenant  of  grace,  and 
therefore  not  a  bargain  as  between 
men,  but  a  stipulation  and  a  Gospel 
command  on  the  basis  of  all  that 
God  has  already  promised  to  us. 
Heb.,  I,  lo  my  covenant  is  with  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  become  a  father  of 
many  nations.  God  here  lays  stress 
upon  the  Gospel  fact  that  His  cove- 
nant of  grace  is  the  foundation  of  all 
his  hopes.  Were  it  not  that  God's 
covenant  is  with  Abram,  he  would 
have  nothing  to  expect.  *f  Many 
nations.  This  is,  first  of  all,  to  be 
literally  granted,  that  from  Abram, 
so  long  waiting  for  family  issue, 
many  people  and  nations  should 
spring  forth.  And  it  is  also,  and  in 
a  higher  sense,  to  be  spiritually  real- 
ized— in  a  vast  accession  of  believ- 
ing children  to  the  household  of 
faith.  In  him  all  families  of  the  earth 
should  yet  be  blessed.  See  Gal.  3  : 8. 
The  Scripture,  foreseeing  that  God 
would  justify  the  heathen  thrrugh" 
faith,   preached    before    the   Gospel 


unto  Abram,   saying,  In  thee   shall 
all  nations  be  blessed. 

5.  Here  follows  the  significant 
change  of  name.  Abram  means 
high  father,  or  father  of  exaltation. 
In  the  new  name  the  letter  H  is  in- 
serted from  a  word  meaning  multi- 
tude, and  so  it  comes  to  mean  fathsr 
of  multitude,  (Rev.  2:17.)  The  new 
name  was  understood  to  indicate  a 
new  stadium  in  his  history,  and  a 
new  era  in  his  career,  comporting 
with  the  name  itself.  So  the  name 
Jacob  was  changed  to  that  of  "  Is- 
rael," meaniug  Prevailer,  in  memory 
of  the  triumphant  wrestling  with  the 
angel  of  the  covenant,  and  as  a  gra- 
cious intimation  of  his  future  suc- 
cesses in  prayer.  So  also  the  name 
Cephas  was  changed  to  Peter,  and 
the  sons  of  Zebedee  were  called 
Boanerges,  all  significant  of  what 
they  were  to  be  and  do.  ^[  /  have 
made  thee.  Heb.,  I  have  given  thee, 
given  thee  to  be,  or  appointed,  consti- 
tuted thee. 

6.  Kings  shall  come  out  of  thte. 
Literally,  the  twelve  chiefs  of  the 
tribes — the  kings  of  Judah  and  Is- 
rael— the  dukes  of  Edom — the  Sara- 
cen kings  in  Asia  and  Africa.  And 
especially  is  this  to  be  fulfilled  in  the 
church  —  that  all  kings  shall  bow 
down  before  the  Messiah — the  seed 
of  Abraham — and  that  all  the  faithful 
seed  of  Abraham  shall  be  made  priests 
and  kings  unto  God,  (Rev.  1 :  6.) 

7.  And  thy  seed  after  thee.  The 
Abrahamic  covenant  includes  the 
seed  of  the  parent  along  with  him- 
self. "Now  to  Abraham  and  his 
seed  were  the  promises  made."    Tba 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  1994 


and  thy  seed  after  thee,  in  their  generations,  for  an  everlasting 
covenant ;  n  to  be  a  God  unto  thee,  and  to  °  thy  seed  after  thee. 

8  And  P I  will  give  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,  the 
land  9  wherein  thou  art  a  stranger,  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  for  an 
everlasting  possession  ;  and  r  I  will  be  their  God. 

0  %  And  God  said  unto  Abraham,  Thou  shalt  keep  my  cove- 
nant therefore,  thou,  and  thy  seed  after  thee,  in  their  genera- 
tions. 


n  ch.  26  :  24;  29  :  13  ;  Heb.  11:  16.  o  Rom.  9:8.  p  ch.  12  :  T;  13  :  15;  Psa.  105  :  9,  11 
q  ch.  23  :  4 ;  28  :  4.  r  Exod.  6:7;  Lev.  26  :  12 ;  Deut.  4  :  3T  ;  14  :  2  ;  26  :  18  ;  29  :  13. 


great  chief  personage  contemplated 
in  the  seed  is  Jesus.  "  He  saith  not, 
And  to  seeds  as  of  many,  but  as  of 
one ;  and  to  thy  seed,  which  is 
Christ,"  (Gal.  3  :  16.)  But  the  seed 
does  also  include  all  who  are  in 
Christ.  "  So  then  they  which  be 
of  faith  are  blessed  with  faithful 
Abraham,  (Gal.  3  :  9.)  This  house- 
hold feature  of  the  covenant  is  per- 
petual. It  was  from  the  beginning 
the  plan  of  God  to  propagate  His 
church  by  means  of  a  pious  posteri- 
ty ;  and  in  His  covenant  provision, 
He  is  pleased  to  compass  in  His 
arms  of  love  not  only  the  parent, 
but  the  infant  children  also.  This 
was  definitely  fixed  by  the  very 
terms  of  the  covenant,  and  in  the 
very  form  of  the  covenant  seal. 
And  it  has  thus  always  been  a  fea- 
ture of  the  church.  And  it  comes 
down  to  us  under  the  New  Testa- 
ment dispensation  :  "  And  if  ye  be 
Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed 
and  heirs  according  to  the  promise. 
For  the  promise  is  imto  you,  and  to 
your  children," (Gal. 3 :  29;  Acts  2 :  39.) 
The  seed  of  Abrani  according  to  the 
flesh — the  Jewish  people — has  great 
promises  as  a  people,  (Rom.  4.) 
*i  An  everlasting  covenant.  By  this 
large  term,  the  perpetuity  of  the  en- 
gagement is  signified — looking  even 
beyond  the  earthly  generations. 
The  covenant  can  never  fail.  So 
the  apostle  calls  it  "an  everlasting 
covenant,"  Heb.  13  :  20,  and  its 
blessings  are  everlasting,  *f  To  he 
a  God  unto  thee.  There  can  be  no 
higher  grant  than  this,  that  God  be 
q  God  to  us — to  give  Himself  to  us 


— to  put  all  His  attributes  and  re- 
sources under  contribution  for  our 
highest  good.  And  this  is  not  to  us 
alone,  but  to  our  seed  after  us,  ac- 
cording to  the  terms  of  this  cove- 
nant. (1.)  This  Abrahamic  cove- 
nant is  a  covenant  of  grace.  (2.) 
The  church  was  represented  by 
Abraham  and  his  house — God's  cho- 
sen ones — and  he  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  believing  ones.  (3.)  The 
Abrahamic  covenant  —  that  is,  the 
covenant  of  grace,  is  still  in  opera- 
tion, and  we  live  under  the  new  dis- 
pensation of  it,  where  there  is  only 
a  more  spiritual  unfolding  and  ad- 
ministration of  its  benefits  with  more 
spiritual  seals,  suitable  to  the  new 
economy. 

8.  Here  follows  a  repetition  of  the 
land-grant — the  earthly  Canaan — to 
Abraham  and  his  natural  seed,  and 
the  heavenly  Canaan  to  Abraham  and 
his  spiritual  seed.  The  natural  seed  of 
Abraham  have  this  title  to  Canaan, 
which  is  not  vitiated  by  their  exclu 
sion  from  it,  and  which  they  may 
yet  literally  possess,  though  nothing 
is  said  of  this  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  and  it  could,  at  any  rate,  be 
only  an  inferior  item  in  the  cove- 
nant grant.  "  The  meek  shall  in- 
herit the  earth."  Here  "the  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  are  brought  to 
gether.  They  are  to  have  the  prom- 
ised land  for  their  perpetual  heri- 
tage, and  God  is  to  be  their  God. 
As  "  an  everlasting  possession,"  the 
reference  is  to  the  heavenly  Canaan. 

9.  Here  God  passes  to  impose 
upon  Abraham  the  corresponding 
covenant  obligations.     It  is  part  of 


B.  C.  1994.] 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


10  This  is  my  covenant,  which  ye  shall  keep  between  me  and 
yon,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  ;  s  Every  man-child  among  yon  shall 
be  circumcised. 

s  Acts  7  :  8. 


God's  grace  to  us  sinners  that  He 
does  not  leave  us  to  ourselves,  but 
binds  us  fast  to  Himself  by  gracious 
and  holy  obligations.  We  are  to 
recognize  such  obligation  as  a  privi- 
lege. Family  religion  is  here  en- 
joined, and  it  is  enforced  by  all  the 
terms  of  the  household  covenant. 
The  parent  who  finds  his  children 
cared  for,  and  required  by  God  in 
His  service,  and  provided  for  by 
His  grace,  will  surely  find  a  motive 
to  cultivate  family  piety. 

10.  "God  inscribes  His  covenant 
in  the  flesh  of  Abraham." — Calvin. 
^[  My  covenant.  The  sign  or  sacra- 
ment is  here  called  the  covenant, 
because  it  exhibits  the  covenant 
promise,  and  it  is  the  seal  set  upon 
the  covenant,  which  makes  the  cove- 
nant good,  and  so  far  executes  it. 
The  covenant  stipulation  or  agree- 
ment is,  "Every  man-child  among 
you  shall  be  circumcised."  So  in 
the  Lord's  Supper  the  cup  is  called 
the  New  Testament  in  Jesus'  blood, 
(Luke  22  :  19,  20.)  The  apostle  in- 
forms us  of  the  true  nature  of  this 
ordinance,  and  thus  of  a  sacrament, 
as  such,  that  it  is  a  sign  and  seal,  in 
the  passage  in  Romans  which  refers 
to  this  transaction :  "  And  he  re- 
ceived the  sign  of  circumcision,  the 
seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the 
faith  which  he  had,  being  yet  uncir- 
cumcised,"  (Rom.  4 :  11.)  It  is  an  out- 
ward sign  of  an  inward  grace,  and  a 
seal  also,  whereby  the  signature  is 
formally  attested  and  authenticated. 
As  in  a  deed  or  instrument  of  con- 
veyance, there  is  first  the  signature, 
and  then  the  seal  which  confirms  it, 
and  in  so  far  executes  the  instru- 
ment. But  it  needs  also  beyond 
that,  to  be  delivered.  And  this  calls 
for  the  hand  of  faith,  ^f  Circum-  \ 
cised.  It  has  been  contended  by 
some,  partly  on  the  ground   of   a 


statement  in  Herodotus,  that  cir- 
cumcision was  derived  from  the 
Egyptians.  But  even  if  it  had  been 
practised  among  them,  this  would 
not  hinder  its  being  employed  by 
God  as  a  sacred  rite,  for  sealing  His 
covenant.  The  presumption,  how- 
ever, is,  that  it  was  not  practised 
among  other  nations  generally,  as  it 
was  meant  to  be  distinctive,  and  to  set 
a  mark  upon  the  Hebrew  people,  sepa- 
rating them  from  others  as  the  Lord's. 
It  was  the  badge  of  nationality,  as 
well  as  a  sacramental  rite,  "  a  token 
of  the  covenant  between  God  and  the 
people,"  (vs.  11.)  It  is  said  to  have 
been  in  use  among  the  Ethiopians, 
Phenicians,  and  South  Sea  Islan- 
ders ;  but  it  is  questionable  whether 
it  was  the  same  rite,  and  it  may 
have  been  derived  from  the  Hebrews 
by  tradition.  And  if,  as  is  main- 
tained by  some,  it  was  practised 
among  the  Egyptians  before  the 
time  of  Joseph,  there  is  here  no 
copying  of  Pagan  institutes,  but  an 
adoption  of  the  rite  for  important 
reasons,  and  in  new  connexions, 
pointing  to  God  and  holiness.  It  is 
plain  that  it  was  not  in  use  among 
the  Egyptians  in  any  such  connex 
ion,  as  here  ;  though  it  is  said  that 
it  was  there  known  as  a  sacred  rite, 
practised  only  among  those  who 
were  admitted  to  the  mysteries,  and 
also  that  it  was  confined  to  the 
priestly  order.  If  this  be  so,  then 
the  Israelites  would  understand 
from  its  adoption  in  their  case,  that 
they  were  a  kingdom  of  priests,  which 
was  the  truth  which  God  woidd 
urge  upon  them,  (Exod.  19  :  6.)  Yet 
it  would  seem  that  as  this  rite  was 
enjoined  upon  Abraham  about  twen- 
ty years  after  coming  out  of  Egypt, 
many  whom  he  is  now  enjoined  to 
circumcise  (having  come  up  with 
him  out  of  Egypt)  would  already 


280 


GENESIS.  [B.  C.  1904. 

1 1  And  ye  shall  circumcise  the  flesh  of  your  foi  eskin ;    and  it 
shall  be  *a  token  of  the  covenant  betwixt  me  and  you. 


t  Acts  7:  8;  Rom.  4  :  11. 


have  been  circumcised  there  or  since 
by  their  Egyptian  parents.  Besides, 
Pharaoh  and  all  his  multitudes  are 
Bpoken  of  as  uncircumcised,  (Ezek. 
31  :  18.)  This  matters  little,  how- 
ever. God  could  appoint  the  rain- 
bow for  a  sign  of  His  covenant  to 
Noah,  even  though  it  may  have  ap- 
peared in  the  cloud  before.  And  so 
He  could  appoint  this  rite  for  His 
covenant  seal,  even  though  other 
nations  had  used  it,  or  something 
like  it,  in  other  connexions.  The 
idea  expressed  in  circumcision  was, 
(1.)  To  mark  Israel  as  a  seed  of 
promise,  and  through  them  to  point 
to  the  coming  One — the  seed,  which  is 
Christ.  (2.)  To  point  to  Him  as  the 
miraculous  seed,  who  does  not,  and 
cannot  come  by  natural  generation, 
because  of  the  natural  corruption 
which  is  here  intimated.  (3.)  It  im- 
plies that  by  this  badge  of  the  cove- 
nant, one's  life  and  his  generations 
may  be  regarded  as  the  Lord's,  dedi- 
cated to  him,  "bearing  in  his  body 
the  marks"  of  the  dedication,  so 
that  in  all  his  earthly  relations  he  is 
to  remove  the  impurity,  and  circum- 
cise the  foreskin  of  his  heart,  Lev. 
26  :  41 ;  Deut.  10  :  16  ;  30  :  6  ;  Jer. 
4:4;  9  :  25,  and  present  the  body,  a 
sacrifice  of  the  life,  holy,  acceptable 
to  God.  It  was  thus  of  the  same 
general  import  as  the  New  Testa- 
ment seal  of  baptism.  It  was  a  put- 
ting off  of  the  impurities  of  the  car- 
nal nature,  and  thus  denoted  sancti- 
Hcation  at  the  seat  and  fountain  of 
manhood.  Flesh-mortifying  —  was 
also  set  forth — repentance.  And 
while  it  signified  that  everything 
which  is  born  of  man  is  polluted,  it 
also  showed  that  salvation  would 
proceed  from  the  blessed  seed  of 
Abraham,  "  which  is  Christ,"  (Gal. 
3  :  16.)  As  a  sign,  then,  it  is  in- 
tended to  sot  forth  such  truths  as 
these,  of  repentance,  and  flesh-mor- 
tifying and  salification,  and  devote- 


ment  to  God ;  and  also  the  higher 
truth  of  the  seed  of  promise  which 
Israel  was  to  become,  and  the  mirac- 
ulous seed,  which  was  Christ.  And 
as  a  seal,  it  was  to  authenticate 
God's  signature,  and  confirm  His 
word  of  covenant  promise,  and  exe- 
cute the  covenant  on  God's  part, 
making  a  conveyance  of  the  bless- 
ings to  those  who  set  their  hand  to 
this  seal  by  faith.  In  the  case  of 
the  children  of  believers,  the  bless- 
ing was  to  be  granted  to  them  on 
the  faith  of  the  parents ;  and  it 
might  be  expected,  in  the  very  act 
of  performing  upon  them  the  pain- 
ful rite  which  marked  them  in  their 
flesh,  as  the  Lord's.  Under  the  New 
Testament  economy  of  the  same 
covenant  of  grace — after  "  the  seed  " 
had  come — the  seal  is  more  adapted 
to  the  more  spiritual  dispensation, 
but  it  is  of  the  same  general  import 
as  regards  dedication  and  regenera- 
tion and  sanctification.  It  is  now 
significant  of  birth,  generation,  but 
of  the  higher  birth— -from  above — of 
the  spirit — regeneration — in  order  to 
entrance  into  the  church  or  king- 
dom of  God.  It  now  marks  the  pro- 
fessed believers  and  their  seed  by 
this  ordinance  of  the  visible  church. 
And  so  it  is  a  seal  of  the  same  Jwuse- 
hold  covenant.  As  such  it  was  prac- 
tised by  the  apostles  in  the  early 
church.  Acts  16  :  33,  the  jailer  "  was 
baptized,  he,  and  all  his,  straight- 
way." Acts  16  :  15,  Lydia  was  bap- 
tized, and  her  household,  while  cir- 
cumcision was  set  aside  as  not  bind- 
ing upon  Gentile  converts,  (Acts 
15 :  24,  28,  29.) 

11.  A  token.  Heb.,  (A  sacramen- 
tal) sign,  setting  forth  the  truth  con- 
veyed in  the  covenant,  and  a  badge 
also  of  the  nationality  of  the  cove- 
nant people.  "  It  is  worthy  of  re- 
mark, that  in  circumcision  (after 
Abraham  himself)  the  parent  is  the 
voluntary  imponent,  and  the  child 


B.  C.  1994] 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


287 


12  And  he  that  is  eight  days  old  J  shall  be  circumcised  among 
you,  every  man-child  in  your  generations,  he  that  is  born  in  the 
house,  or  bought  with  money  of  any  stranger,  which  is  not  of  thy 
seed. 

13  lie  that  is  born  in  thine  house,  and  he  that  is  bought  with 


u  Lev.  12  ;  3  ;  Luke  2  :  21 ;  John  T  :  22 ;  Phil.  3  :  5. 


merely  the  passive  recipient  of  the 
sign  of  the  covenant.  Hereby  is 
taught  the  lesson  of  parental  respon- 
sibility and  parental  hope.  This  is 
the  first  formal  step  in  a  godly  edu- 
cation, in  which  the  parent  acknowl- 
edges his  obligation  to  perform  all 
the  rest.  It  is  also,  on  the  com- 
mand of  God,  the  formal  admission 
of  the  believing  parent's  offspring 
into  the  privileges  of  the  covenant, 
and  cheers  the  heart  of  the  parent 
in  entering  upon  the  parental  task. 
This  admission  cannot  be  reversed 
but  by  the  deliberate  rebellion  of 
the  child.  Still  farther,  the  sign  of 
the  covenant  is  to  be  applied  to 
every  male  in  the  household  of 
Abraham.  This  indicates  that  the 
servant  or  serf  stands  in  the  relation 
of  a  child  to  his  master  or  owner, 
who  is  therefore  accountable  for  the 
soul  of  his  serf  as  for  that  of  his  son. 
It  points  out  the  applicability  of  the 
covenant  to  others,  as  well  as  the 
children  of  Abraham,  and  therefore 
its  capability  of  universal  extension 
when  the  fulness  of  time  should 
come." — Murphy. 

12.  Eight  days  old.  Heb.,  Son  of 
eight  days.  The  time  is  here  speci- 
fied. It  is  significant.  It  was  after 
a  week's  round,  when  a  new  period 
was  begun,  and  thus  it  was  indica- 
tive of  starting  anew  upon  a  new 
life.  The  seventh  day  was  a  sacred 
day.  And  this  period  of  seven  days 
was  a  sacred  period,  so  that  with  the 
eighth  day  a  new  cycle  was  com- 
menced. Besides  the  eighth  day, 
and  the  day  after  the  Sabbath-day 
was  also  sacred,  in  other  connexions, 
as  foreshadowing  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath. The  old  Sabbath  was  the  last 
day  of  the  week,  signifying  that  we 
ra  ,i  rest,  under  the  law,  only  after 


our  work  is  done,  and  our  obedience 
rendered.  But  the  eighth-day  Sab- 
bath, the  first  day  of  the  new  week, 
signifies  that  we  are  first  to  rest  in 
Christ,  and  then  go  forth  to  our 
work.  Mark  the  language,  "After 
eight  days,"  (John  20  :  26.)  This 
rite  was  to  be  performed  on  the 
eighth  day  after  birth,  even  though 
the  day  came  on  a  Sabbath.  All 
creatures  newly  born  were  regarded 
as  unclean  for  seven  days,  and  might 
not  sooner  be  offered  to  God,  (Lev. 
12  :  2,  3  ;  22  :  27.)  Under  the  old  cove- 
nant, as  everything  pointed  forward 
to  Christ  the  God-man — Son  of  man 
— so  every  offering  was  to  be  a  male, 
and  every  covenant  rite  was  proper- 
ly enough  confined  to  the  males. 
The  females  were  regarded  as  acting 
in  them,  and  represented  by  them. 
Under  the  New  Testament  this  dis- 
tinction is  not  appropriate.  It  is 
not  "  male  and  female,"  (Gal.  3  :  28 ; 
Col.  3  :  11.)  ^[  Born  in  the  house. 
Here  the  rite  is  enjoined  in  case  of 
household  servants  or  slaves  who 
were  horn  in  the  house  —  a  class 
often  so  described,  (vs.  13.)  The 
last  phrase  qualifies  the  whole  fore- 
going. The  Heb.  reads,  "  And  a  son 
of  eight  days  shall  be  circumcised  to 
you.  Every  man-child  in  your  gen- 
erations— the  one  born  in  the  house 
— and  the  purchase  of  (silver)  money 
— of  every  son  of  a  stranger  who  is 
not  of  thy  seed "  —  showing  that 
those  "  born  in  the  house  "  refer  to 
such  as  were  not  their  own  children, 
but  "  of  strangers." 

13.  Must  needs  be.  Heb.,  Shall  be. 
Here  this  injunction  as  to  household 
slaves — born  in  the  house,  or  pur- 
chased— is  repeated,  for  it  needed  to 
be  impressed  upon  them,  and  it  might 
else  be  omitted.    But  it  was  a  special 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  1994. 


thy  money,  must  needs  be  circumcised :  and  my  covenant  shall 
be  in  your  flesh  for  an  everlasting  covenant. 

14  And  the  uncircumcised  man-child,  whose  flesh  of  his  fore- 
skin is  not  circumcised,  that  soul  w  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  peo- 
ple ;  he  hath  broken  my  covenant. 

vr  Exod.  4  :  24. 


feature  of  God's  plan  to  show  all 
along  to  the  Hebrews  that  this  par- 
ticularism which  chose  them  from 
other  nations,  and  separated  them 
to  God  as  His  covenant  people,  was 
in  order  to  universality,  and  to  an 
extension  of  the  covenant  blessings 
to  all  people. 

14.  Here  follows  the  penalty  of 
neglect  in  this  covenant  rite.  ^[  That 
soul.  Heb.,  Tliat  person.  The  Sept. 
and  Sam.  add,  "  on  the  eighth  day." 
So  far  as  parents  were  concerned, 
this  penalty  would  lead  them  to 
carefully  observe  this  rite  for  their 
children's  sake.  This  motive  is  also 
urged  under  the  Gospel.  "Repent 
and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  etc.,  for 
the  promise  is  unto  you  and  to  your 
children,"  (Acts  2,  39.)  Parents  are 
exhorted  to  repent  and  come  into 
the  church  for  their  children's  sake, 
because  they  are  admitted  to  a  share 
in  the  covenant  blessing.  Neither 
circumcision  nor  baptism  is  a  saving 
ordinance.  Nothing,  of  course,  is 
here  said  of  children  perishing  for 
lack  of  baptism  under  the  New  Tes- 
tament, though  the  plain  duty  of 
the  Christian  parent  is  to  have  the 
child  designated  and  acknowledged 
as  one  of  the  visible  membership, 
and  entitled  to  this  high  privilege. 
There  is  neither  hereditary  regen- 
eration nor  baptismal  regeneration 
anywhere  taught  in  the  Scripture. 
But  the  parent  has  strong  encour- 
agements to  Christian  fidelity,  and 
God  binds  Himself  especially  to  bless 
the  means  that  Christian  parents 
use  for  their  children's  salvation. 
IF  Cut  off  from  among  his  people. 
This  phrase,  first  of  all,  means  exclu- 
sion from  the  covenant  membership 
and  treatment  as  a  Gentile  or  alien. 


This  was  sometimes  accompanied 
with  the  sentence  of  death,  (Exod. 
31  :  14.)  In  the  wilderness  the  Is- 
raelites seem  to  have  omitted  the 
ordinance,  as  being  themselves  under 
a  temporary  suspension  of  covenant 
relations,  and  the  omission  was  vis- 
ited with  special  Divine  chastise- 
ments, Num.  14 :  22-24 ;  Josh.  5  :  5,  6. 
See  Lev.  17 :  10,  where  the  phrase 
seems  to  refer  to  temporal  death. 
Compare  Exod.  31 :  14.  The  phrase 
is  used  about  twenty  times  in  this 
sense.  This  punishment  is  often  de- 
nounced against  the  most  grievious 
crimes  under  the  law.  It  signifies 
that  all  the  evil  should  overtake  the 
transgressor,  from  which,  through 
God's  covenant,  he  was  defended. 
It  was  open  to  every  one  to  become 
his  accuser  and  procure  his  death. 
And  even  if  he  escaped  this,  he  lived 
in  continual  fear  that  God  might,  in 
some  immediate  manner,  bring  the 
punishment  upon  him,  (Exod.  4 :  24.) 
Hence  we  find,  that  in  the  case  of 
some  this  threatening  was  followed 
by  death,  (Num.  15  :  30,  31.)  Some 
of  the  Jewish  authors  understand 
this  phrase  to  include  even  a  tempo- 
ral and  eternal  damnation.  Some 
greatly  mistake  who  think  they  can, 
with  impunity,  neglect  the  sacra- 
ment either  of  baptism,  or  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  what  Christ  has 
appointed  for  our  strengthening  and 
salvation,  how  can  we  neglect,  and 


prosper 


With  the  mouth  con- 


fession is  made  unto  salvation." 
Tf  Broken  my  covenant.  Chald., 
Hath  made  void  my  covenant.  Sept., 
Hath  {scattered)  frustrated  my  cove- 
nant. 

15.  Sarai.  The  etymology  of  this 
name  is  not  clear.  It  is  commonly 
understood  to  mean  "my  Princess." 


B.  C.  1994.] 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


15  ^  And  God  said  unto  Abraham,  As  for  Sarai  thy  wife,  thou 
shalt  not  call  her  name  Sarai,  but  Sarah  shall  her  name  be. 

16  And  I  will  bless  her,  x  and  give  thee  a  son  also  of  her:  yea, 
I  will  bless  her,  and  she  shall  be  a  mother  J  of  nations ;  kings  of 
people  shall  be  of  her. 

17  Then  Abraham  fell  upon  his  face,  zand  laughed,  and  said  in 
his  heart,  Shall  a  child  be  born  unto  him  that  is  an  hundred  years 
old  ?  and  shall  Sarah,  that  is  ninety  years  old,  bear  ? 

18  And  Abraham  said  unto  God,  O  that  Ishmael  might  live 
before  thee ! 


x  ch.  18  :  10.     y  ch.  35  :  11  ;   GaL  4  :  31 ;  1  Pet. 


z  ch.  IS  :  1'2  ;  21  :  6. 


and  Sarah  "Princess"  in  general. 
Ewald  takes  it  to  be  an  adjective 
form  meaning  contentious.  Furst 
renders  it  tyrannical.  Kurtz  agrees 
with.  Ikcn,  that  it  means  nobility ; 
while  Sarah  means  to  be  fruitful. 
This  agrees  with  the  context,  vs.  16, 
"  She  shall  become  nations."  The 
Or.  has  it  Sarra.  Some  make  the 
final  h  to  mean  here  the  same  as  in 
the  name  Abraham — a  multitude — 
and  so  it  would  mean  princess  of  a 
multitude.  "God  gives  the  name 
before  the  thing  signified,  as  a  sup- 
port to  weak  faith." 

16.  A  son  also  of  her.  This  was 
the  first  positive  declaration  of  Sa- 
rah's part  in  the  covenant  as  mother 
of  the  promised  seed.  So  she  is  to 
become  the  mother  of  nations  and  of 
kings.  This  assurance  was  contrary 
to  all  their  expectations,  and  to  all 
natural  prospects.  It  was  therefore 
a  challenge  for  their  faith  in  the 
simple  word  of  promise.  "Against 
hope  Abram  believed  in  hope  that 
be  might  become  the  father  of  many 
nations,"  etc.,  (Rom.  4 :  18,  19.)  It 
was  not  fit  that  the  mother  of  the 
covenant  people,  who  was  to  teach 
His  name  and  to  propagate  His  re- 
ligion, should  be  a  foreign-born 
maid  like  Hagar.  ^[  She  shall  be. 
Heb.,  She  shall  become  nations.  Gr., 
He  shall  be.  See  vs.  6.  The  bond- 
maid was  not  the  proper  one  to  be 
the  mother  of  the  covenant  seed. 
God  would  extend  her  preeminence 
far  and  wide,  which  in  her  former 
name  had  been  restricted. 


17.  Abraham,  who  at  first  had  fallen 
upon  his  face  in  devout  reverence 
and  awe  of  God's  majesty,  now  falls 
on  his  face  in  mingled  adoration,  as- 
tonishment, and  joy.  Onk.,  Rejoiced. 
Targ.  Jer.,  Marcelled.  See  Psa. 
126 : 1,  2  ;  Job  8  :  21.  See  ch.  18 :  12, 
13.  The  son  was  called  "Isaac," 
'meaning  "  laughter")  vs.  19,  by  Di- 
vine direction.  The  context  shows 
that  there  was  here  nothing  like 
contempt  or  derision  of  God's  word, 
but  quite  the  contrary.  "  Shall  it  be 
so  indeed."  Can  this  be  ?  This  that 
was  only  too  good  to  be  thought  of, 
and  too  blessed  a  consummation  of 
all  his  ancient  hopes,  to  be  now  at 
this  late  day  so  distinctly  assured  to 
him  by  God  Himself.  Yet  it  would 
not  be  wonderful  if  he  also  in  his 
laughter  expressed  a  hidden  doubt  of 
what  seemed  in  itself  so  absurd,  so 
ridiculous  in  its  more  natural  as- 
pects. And  if  so,  then  we  can  also 
understand  his  meaning  in  the  en- 
suing passage. 

18.  0  that  Ishmael.  As  if  he  yet 
cleaved  to  Ishmael,  whom  he  had 
already  in  hand,  and  would  be  con- 
tent if  he  could  enjoy  the  Divine 
favor  as  the  covenant  son.  Doubt- 
less, he  had  rested  his  hope  of  the 
promise  very  much  upon  this  son  of 
the  bondwoman,  and  had  become 
used  to  the  idea  that  the  blessings  of 
the  covenant  were  to  come  through 
him.  Or,  it  may  be  that  he  sees  in 
this  promise  of  a  new  son  and  heir 
only  a  rejection  of  Ishmael,  so  that 
his  first  feeling  after  the  surprise  is 


290 


GENESIS. 


[B.  C.  1994. 


19  And  God  said,  a  Sarah  thy  wife  shall  bear  thee  a  son  in- 
deed ;  and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Isaac :  and  I  will  establish  my 
covenant  with  him  for  an  everlasting  covenant,  and  with  his  seed 
after  him. 

20  And  as  for  Ishmael,  I  have  heard  thee:  behold,  I  have 
blessed  him,  and  will  make  him  fruitful,  and  b  will  multiply  him 
exceedingly :  c  twelve  princes  shall  he  beget,  d  and  I  will  make 
him  a  great  nation. 

21  But  my  covenant  will  I  establish  with  Isaac,  e  which  Sarah 
shall  bear  unto  thee  at  this  set  time  in  the  next  year. 

22  And  he  left  off  talking  with  him,  and  God  went  up  from 
Abraham. 

23  %  And  Abraham  took  Ishmael  his  son,  and  all  that  were 


a  ch.  18  :  10  ;   21 
21:2. 


2 ;    Gal.  4  :  28.     b  ch.  16  :  10.     c  ch.  25 :  12-16.    d  ch.  21  :  18.     e  ch. 


to  plead  for  him.  ^  Live  before  thee. 
Be  a  sharer  in  the  Divine  favor  and 
in  the  covenant  blessings,  and  not 
be  cast  off.  This  is  a  natural  out- 
burst of  parental  anxiety.  All  the 
greater,  perhaps,  as  he  seemed  the 
unfortunate  son. 

19.  Indeed.  Heb.,  Va»  But  in- 
deed. An  emphatic  term,  as  if  to 
deny  the  contrary  thought,  couched, 
perhaps,  in  Abraham's  plea  for  Ish- 
mael. "  You  need  not  doubt  it.  In- 
deed, on  the  contrary,  Sarah  is  bear- 
ing thee  a  son."  ^  Isaac.  Heb., 
Laughter.  Referring  to  the  laugh 
of  Abraham  as  more  of  joy  than  of 
incredulity.  If  My  covenant.  This 
was  to  be  the  covenant  son — the  son 
of  promise — the  type  of  Christ — the 
channel  of  blessing  to  the  nations. 
As  it  is  written,  "  In  Isaac  shall  thy 
seed  be  called,"  (Rom.  9  : 7.) 

20.  As  for  Ishmael.  Meanwhile 
Ishmael  should  not  be  cut  off.  God's 
covenant  with  Isaac  should  not  lead 
to  the  rejection  and  exclusion  of  Ish- 
mael. He  should  also  enjoy  the  Di- 
vine favor.  Abraham's  prayer  for 
him  was  heard.  His  blessings  were 
to  be  chiefly  temporal.  He  should 
become  great  and  powerful — occupy 
large  districts ;  twelve  princes  should 
descend  from  him — as  twelve  from 
Jacob  (ch.  25  :  12-16)  and  the  dread 
of  his  name  should  inspire  respect 


and  fear.  But  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind was  to  proceed  not  in  the  chan- 
nel of  earthly  conquest  and  gran- 
deur, but  of  spiritual  gifts. 

21.  But.  The  higher  distinction 
and  stipulation  is  reserved  for  Isaac, 
the  son  of  the  free  woman — the  cov- 
enant son — the  son  of  promise.  His 
blessings  should  be  preeminent,  as 
the  channel  of  blessing  to  all  nations, 
while  Ishmael  should  be  a  marauder 
and  despoiler  of  all.  "  In  Isaac  shall 
thy  seed  be  called."  He  is  the  son 
of  the  house,  the  other  is  the  ser- 
vant. He  is  the  type  of  the  regen- 
erate—  born  of  God — type  of  the 
evangelical,  as  distinct  from  the 
other,  the  legal.  He  is  the  son 
given  by  promise,  not  coming  by 
nature.  And  he  is  also  the  type  of 
the  miraculous  seed,  which  is  Christ, 
(Gal.  4:27-29.)  If  This  set  time. 
This  time  next  year.     See  ch.  21 :  2. 

22.  God  went  up.  Chal.,  The  glory 
of  the  Lord  went  up.  The  shekinah 
— the  symbol  of  the  visible  presence 
of  God.  But  the  Heb.  expresses  the 
fact  that  God  was  personally  pres- 
ent, revealing  Himself  in  some  visi- 
ble form,  (vs.  1.) 

23.  Abram's  obedience  to  God's 
injunctions,  and  his  observance  of 
the  sacramental  ordinance,  is  now 
recorded.  (1.)  He  did  it  thoroughly 
and  fully,  omitting  none  of  all  his 


B.  C.  1994.] 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


291 


born  in  Ms  house,  ana  all  that  were  bought  with  his  money,  every 
male  among  the  men  of  Abraham's  house ;  and  circumcised  the 
flesh  of  their  foreskin,  in  the  self-same  day,  as  God  had  said  unto 
him. 

24  And  Abraham  was  ninety  years  old  and  nine,  when  he  was 
circumcised  in  the  flesh  of  his  foreskin. 

25  And  Ishmael  his  son  was  thirteen  years  old,  when  he  was 
circumcised  in  the  flesh  of  his  foreskin. 

26  In  the  self-same  day  was  Abraham  circumcised,  and  Ish- 
mael his  son ; 

27  And  fall  the  men  of  his  house,  born  in  the  house,  and 
bought  with  money  of  the  stranger,  were  circumcised  with  him. 

f  ch.  18  :  19. 


house.  Every  male  among  them — 
his  children  and  servants  all  under 
his  roof,  (vs.  23.)  (2.)  He  observed 
the  rite  in  his  own  person,  not  mak- 
ing it  a  duty  for  others  and  for  all 
but  himself,  but  including  himself 
with  the  others.  And  this  he  did 
at  his  advanced  age,  when  he  was 
nearly  a  hundred  years  old,  (vs.  24.) 
Aged  piety  is  beautiful,  and  has  the 
Divine  blessing  in  large  measure. 
(3.)  He  commanded  his  children  and 
his  household  after  him,  that  they 
might  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord, 
(Gen.  18  :  19.)  This  boy  of  thirteen 
years  of  age,  poor  Ishmael,  might 
have  claimed  to  judge  for  him- 
self, if  he  had  been  so  trained  as 
to  be  left  to  himself.  This  is  the 
age  at  which  a  boy  became  a  son  of 
the  law,  and  was  regarded  as  of  age 
to  take  the  sacrament  of  the  pass- 
over —  twelve  to  thirteen  years  of 
age.  Jesus  went  up  to  the  passover 
at  twelve.  Ishmael  was  now  thir- 
teen. Children,  when  they  come  to 
such  years  of  discretion,  should  be 
taught  their  duty  in  regard  to  as- 
suming sacramental  obligations,  and 


coming  forward  to  the  full  benefits 
of  the  Christian  church,  (vs.  25.) 
(4.)  It  was  a  household  dedication. 
The  aged  patriarch  and  the  youth- 
ful son,  and  all  the  men-servants, 
no  matter  how  they  came  into  the 
household,  were  thus  marked  as 
sharers  in  the  covenant,  and  the  pa- 
triarch's house  was  stamped  in  their 
very  flesh  as  the  Lord's,  (vss.  26,  27.) 
Domestic  piety  is  beautiful.  The 
passover  and  circumcision  were  both 
of  them  household  seals,  and  so  are 
baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Everywhere  there  are  the  simple 
elements — a  little  bread  and  wine, 
and  a  little  water — and  what  doth 
hinder  ?  (Acts  8  :  36.)  And  God  is 
faithful.  Christ  is  the  Head  of  His 
house,  as  the  covenant  Son  in 
whom  we  have  all  blessings.  Pa- 
rental fidelity  God  covenants  to 
bless.  "  For  I  know  Abraham,  that 
he  will  command  his  children  and 
his  household  after  him,  and  they 
shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord  to 
do  justice  and  judgment,  that  the 
Lord  may  bring  upon  Abraham  all 
that  He  hath  promised,"  (ch.  18 :19.) 


APPENDIX. 


The  recent  work  of  KeU  and  De- 
litzsch,  on  the  Pentateuch,  has  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  author  since 
the  foregoing  pages  were  written,  as 
also  certain  other  late  productions ; 
from  which  a  few  supplementary 
notes  are  here  appended,  without 
burdening  the  running  comments, 
and  too  valuable  to  be  omitted. 


INTRODUCTION. 

On  the  important  point  of  the 
Mosaic  authorship,  it  is  argued  sum- 
marily thus : 

"  The  five  Books  of  Moses  occupy 
the  first  place  in  the  Canon  of  the 
Old  Testament,  not  only  from  their 
peculiar  character  as  the  foundation 
and  norm  of  all  the  rest,  but  also  be- 
cause of  their  actual  date,  as  being 
the  oldest  writings  in  the  Canon,  and 
the  groundwork  of  the  whole  of  the 
Old  Testament  literature — all  the 
historical,  prophetical,  and  poetical 
works  of  the  Israelites  subsequent 
to  the  Mosaic  era,  pointing  back  to 
the  law  of  Moses  as  their  primary 
source  and  type,, and  assuming  the 
existence,  not  merely  of  the  law  it- 
self, but  also  of  a  book  of  the  law, 
of  precisely  the  character  and  form 
of  the  five  Books  of  Moses." 

2.  "  The  internal  character  of  the 
book  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  this 
indisputable  fact  that  the  Pentateuch 
is  as  certainly  presupposed  by  the 
whole  of  the  post-Mosaic  history  as 
the  root  is  by  the  tree.  For  it  can- 
not be  shown  to  bear  any  traces  of 
post-Mosaic  times  and  circumstances. 
On  the  contrary,  it  has  the  evident 


stamp  of  Mosaic  origin,  both  in 
substance  and  in  style.  All  that 
has  been  adduced  as  proof  of  the 
contrary  by  the  so-called  modern 
criticism,  is  founded  either  upon 
misunderstanding  and  misinterpre- 
tation, or  upon  a  misapprehension  of 
the  peculiarities  of  the  Semitic  style 
of  historical  writing,  or,  lastly,  upon 
doctrinal  prejudices,  in  other  words, 
upon  a  repudiation  of  all  the  super- 
natural characteristics  of  Divine  rev- 
elation, whether  in  the  form  of  mir- 
acle or  prophecy.  The  Pentateuch 
answers  all  the  expectations  which  a 
study  of  the  personal  character  of 
Moses  could  lead  us  justly  to  form  of 
any  work  composed  by  him.  In  him 
the  patriarchal  age  terminated,  and 
the  period  of  the  law  began — conse- 
quently we  expect  to  find  him  as  a 
sacred  historian,  linking  the  existing 
revelation  with  its  patriarchal  and 
primitive  antecedents.  As  a  media- 
tor of  the  law  he  was  a  prophet,  and 
we  expect  from  him  therefore  an  in- 
comparable prophetic  insight  into 
the  ways  of  God,  in  both  past  and 
future.  He  was  learmed  in  all  the 
wisdom  of  the  Egyptians — and  a 
work  from  his  hand  would  therefore 
show,  in  various  intelligent  allusions 
to  Egyptian  customs,  laws  and  inci- 
dents, the  well  educated  native  of 
that  land  ;  Gen.  40 :  16  ;  41 :  14 ;  44 : 5  ; 
50  :  2,  8,  26 ;   Exod.  2:3;   7  :  8  to 

10  :  23  ;  22  :  19  ;  Lev.  18  :  23 ;  20  :  15, 
16  ;    Numb.   13  :  23  ;    11  :  5  ;    Dent. 

11  :  10, 11 ;  25  :  2,  3  ;  7  :  15  ;  28 :  27  ; 
35  :  60.  It  also  presents  so  many 
marks  of  the  Mosaic  age  and  the 
Mosaic  spirit  that  it  is  a  priori  prob- 
able that  Moses  was  its  author.    How 


APPENDIX. 


admirably,  for  example,  was  the  way 
prepared  for  the  revelation  of  God 
at  Sinai  by  the  revelations  recorded 
in  Genesis  of  the  primitive  and  patri- 
archal times ! 

There  is  also  the  unity  of  plan 
that  we  might  expect,  and  the  child- 
like simplicity  of  style ;  with  an  an- 
tiquated feature,  which  is  common 
to  all  the  five  books,  and  distin- 
guishes them  essentially  from  all  the 
other  writings  of  the  Old  Testament. 

There  are  also  express  statements 
that  the  Pentateuch  was  written  by 
Moses  himself;  Exod.  17  :  14 ;  24  :  3, 
4,  7 ;  (see  20  :  2-17 ;)  ch.  21  to  23 ; 
ch.  34  :  27 ;  Numb.  33  : 2.  It  is  true 
that  these  statements  furnish  no  di- 
rect evidence  of  the  Mosaic  author- 
ship of  the  entire  Pentateuch.  But 
from  the  fact  that  the  covenant  of 
Sinai  was  to  be  concluded,  and  actu- 
ally was  concluded,  on  the  basis  of  a 
written  record  of  the  laws  and  priv- 
ileges of  the  covenant,  it  may  be  in- 
ferred, with  tolerable  certainty,  that 
Moses  committed  all  those  laws  to 
writing,  which  were  to  serve  the 
people  as  an  inviolable  rule  of  con- 
duct towards  God.  And  from  the 
record  which  God  commanded  to  be 
made  of  the  two  historical  events 
already  mentioned,  it  follows  unques- 
tionably, that  it  was  the  intention  of 
God  that  all  the  more  important 
manifestations  of  the  covenant  fidel- 
ity of  Jehovah  should  be  handed 
down  in  writing  in  order  that  the 
people,  in  all  time  to  come,  might 
study  and  lay  them  to  heart,  and 
their  fidelity  be  thus  preserved  to- 
wards their  covenant  God.  That 
Moses  recognised  this  Divine  inten- 
tion, and  for  the  purpose  of  uphold- 
ing the  work  already  accomplished 
through  his  mediatorial  office,  com- 
mitted to  writing,  not  merely  the 
whole  of  the  law,  but  the  entire 
work  of  the  Lord  in  and  for  Israel — 
in  other  words,  that  he  wrote  out 
the  whole  Pentateuch  in  the  form  in 
which  it  has  come  down  to  us,  and 
handed  over  the  work  to  the  nation 
before  he  departed  this  life,  that  it 
might  be  preserved  and  obeyed,  is 


distinctly  stated  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  Pentateuch  in  Deut.  31  :  9,  24. 
This  testimonv  is  confirmed  by  Deut. 
17  :  18 ;  28  :  58,  61 ;  29  :  21  ;  30  :  10  ; 
31  :  26.—KeU  and  Delitzsch. 


HISTORICAL    CHARACTER    OP 
THE    PENTATEUCH. 

Of  the  reality  of  the  Divine  reve- 
lations, accompanied  by  miracles  and 
prophecies,  the  Christian  (i.  e.,  the 
believing  Christian,)  has  already  a 
pledge  in  the  miracle  of  regenera- 
tion, and  the  working  of  the  Spirit 
in  his  own  heart.  We  have  here,  as 
historical  facts,  the  natural  miracles, 
and  the  testimony  of  eye  witnesses, 
ensuring  their  credibility,  in  the 
case  of  all  the  events  of  Moses'  own 
time — that  is,  of  all  in  the  last  four 
books  of  Moses.  The  legal  code 
contained  in  these  books  is  now  ac- 
knowledged by  the  most  naturalistic 
opponents  of  biblical  revelation  to 
have  proceded  from  Moses,  so  far  as 
its  most  essential  elements  are  con- 
cerned ;  and  this  is,  in  itself,  a  sim- 
ple confession  that  the  Mosaic  age  is 
not  a  dark  and  mythical  one,  but 
falls  within  the  clear  light  of  histo- 
ry. The  historical  events  of  these 
books  contain  no  traces  of  legendary 
transmutation,  or  mythical  adorn- 
ment of  the  actual  facts.  Cases  of 
discrepancy,  which  some  critics  have 
adduced  as  containing  proof  of  this, 
have  been  pronounced  by  others  of 
the  same  theological  school  to  be 
quite  unfounded." — Keil  and  De- 
litzsch. 

The  biblical  account  of  the  crea- 
tion can  also  vindicate  its  claim  to 
be  true  and  actual  history,  in  the 
presence  of  the  doctrines  of  philoso- 
phy, and  the  established  results  of 
natural  science.  So  long,  indeed,  as 
philosophy  undertakes  to  construct 
the  universe  from  general  ideas,  it 
will  be  utterly  unable  to  comprehend 
the  creation.  But  ideas  will  never 
explain  the  existence  of  things. 
Creation  is  an  act  of  the  personal 
God,  not  a  process  of  nature,  the  de- 


294 


APPENDIX. 


velopraent  of  which  can  be  traced  to 
the  laws  of  birth  and  decay  that 
prevailed  in  the  created  world." 

"  The  bible  also  mentions  two 
events  of  the  primeval  age,  whose 
effect  upon  the  form  of  the  earth, 
and  the  animal  and  vegetable  world 
no  natural  science  can  explain. 
These  are,  (1.)  The  curse  pronounced 
upon  the  earth  in  consequence  of  the 
fall  of  our  race,  by  which  even  the 
animal  world  was  made  subject  to 
<pdopa  ;  (Gen.  3  :  17 ;  Rom.  8  :  20  ;) 
and,  (2.)  the  flood,  by  which  the 
earth  was  submerged,  even  to  the 
tops  of  the  highest  mountains,  etc. 

"  Hence,  if  geological  doctrines  do 
contradict  the  account  of  the  crea- 
tion contained  in  Genesis,  they  can- 
not shake  the  credibility  of  the 
Scriptures." — Keil  and  Delitzsch. 


SOURCES.    (Introduction,  p.  34.) 

"  That  the  hypothesis  which  traces 
the  interchange  of  the  two  names  of 
God  in  Genesis  to  different  docu- 
ments does  not  suffice  to  explain  the 
occurrence  of  'Jehovah  Elohim  ' 
in  ch.  2  :  4  to  3  :  24,  even  the  sup- 
porters of  this  hypothesis  cannot 
possibly  deny.  Not  only  is  God  call- 
ed Elohim  alone  in  the  middle  of 
this  section,  viz.,  in  the  address  to  the 
serpent — a  clear  proof  that  the  inter- 
change in  these  names  has  reference 
to  the  difference  in  their  significa- 
tions— but  the  use  of  the  double 
name,  which  occurs  here  twenty 
times,  though  rarely  met  with  else- 
where, is  always  significant.  In  the 
Pentateuch  we  only  find  it  in  Exod. 
9  :  30.  In  the  other  books  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  Sam.  7  :  22,  25  ; 
1  Chron.  17  :  16,  17 ;  2  Chron.  6  :  41, 
42 ;  Ps.  84  :  8,  11 ;  and  Ps.  50  :  1, 
where  the  order  is  reversed,  and  in 
every  instance  it  is  used  with  pecu- 
liar emphasis,  to  give  prominence  to 
the  fact  that  Jehovah  is  truly  Elohim, 
whilst  in  Ps.  50  :  1,  the  Psalmist  ad- 
vances from  the  general  name  El 
and  Elohim  to  Jehovah,  as  the  per- 
sonal name  of  the  God  of  Israel.   In 


this  section  Jehovah  Elohim  is  ex 
pressive  of  the  fact  that  Jehovah  is 
God,  or  one  with  Elohim.  Hence 
Elohim  is  placed  after  Jehovah — for 
the  constant  use  of  the  double  name 
is  not  intended  to  teach  that  Elohim, 
who  created  the  world,  was  Jehovah, 
but  that  Jehovah,  who  visited  man 
in  Paradise,  who  punished  him  for 
the  transgression  of  His  command, 
but  gave  him  promise  of  a  victory 
over  the  tempter,  was  Elohim,  the 
same  God  who  created  the  heavens 
and  the  earth. 

"  Jehovah,  therefore,  is  the  God  of 
the  history  of  salvation.  This  is  not 
shown  in  the  etymology  of  the  name, 
but  in  its  historical  expression,  (see 
ch.  12,  ch.  15  :  7.  The  preparation 
for  redemption  commenced  in  Para- 
dise. To  show  this,  Moses  has  intro- 
duced the  name  of  Jehovah  into  the 
history  in  ch.  2,  and  has  indicated 
the  identity  of  Jehovah  with  Elo- 
him, not  only  by  the  constant  asso- 
ciation of  the  two  names,  but  also  by 
the  fact  that  in  the  heading  (vs.  4,) 
he  speaks  of  the  creation  described 
in  ch.  1,  as  the  work  of  Jehovah 
Elohim." — Keil  and  Delitzsch,  pp. 
75,  76. 

CHAPTER  I. 

1.  Bara  (in  Kal.,)  means  always 
to  create,  and  is  applied  only  to  a 
Divine  creation — the  production  of 
that  which  had  no  existence  before. 
It  is  used  for  the  creation  of  man, 
(vs.  27 ;  ch.  5:1,  2,)  and  of  every 
thing  new  which  God  creates,  wheth- 
er in  the  kingdom  of  nature  (Numb. 
16  :  30,)  or  of  grace,  (Exodus  34  :  10  ; 
Ps.  51  :  10. 

5.  The  first  day  =  day  one. 
Like  the  numbers  of  the  days  which 
follow,  it  is  without  the  article,  to 
show  that  the  different  days  arose 
from  the  constant  recurrence  of 
"  evening  and  morning."  It  is  not 
till  the  sixth  and  last  day  that 
the  article  is  used,  (vs.  31,)  to  indi- 
cate the  termination  of  the  wcrk 
of  creation  upon  that  day.  It  is  tc 
be  observed  that  the  days  of  crea 


APPENDIX. 


295 


tion  are  bounded  by  the  coming  on  of 
evening  and  morning,  and  they  are 
not  reckoned  from  evening  to  even- 
ing, but  from  morning  to  morning. 
They  must  hence  be  regarded  not  as 
periods  of  time  of  incalculable  dura- 
tion of  years,  or  thousands  of  years, 
but  as  simple  earthly  days. 

26.  Man  is  the  image  of  God  by 
virtue  of  his  spiritual  nature — of  the 
breath  of  God  by  which  the  being 
formed  from  the  dust  of  the  earth 
became  a  living  soul.  The  rest  of 
the  world  exists  through  the  word 
of  God — man  through  His  own  pecu- 
liar breath.  This  breath  is  the  seal 
and  pledge  of  our  relation  to  God, 
of  our  God-like  dignity — and  man 
possessed  a  creaturely  copy  of  the 
holiness  and  blessedness  of  the  Di- 
vine life.  This  concrete  essence  of 
the  Divine  likeness  was  shattered  by 
sin ;  and  it  is  only  through  Christ 
the  brightness  of  the  Divine  glory, 
and  the  expression  of  His  essence 
(Heb.  1  :  3,)  that  our  nature  is  trans- 
formed into  the  image  of  God  again, 
(Col.  3  :  10  ;  Eph.  4  :  24.) 

29.  Every  green  herb.  "  According 
to  the  creative  will  of  God  men  were 
not  to  slaughter  animals  for  food, 
nor  were  animals  to  prey  upon  one 
another :  consequently  the  fact  which 
now  prevails  universally  in  nature, 
and  the  order  of  the  world — the  vio- 
lent and  often  painful  destruction  of 
life — is  not  a  primary  law  of  nature, 
nor  a  Divine  institution  founded  in 
the  creation  itself,  but  entered  the 
world  along  with  death  at  the  fall  of 
man,  and  became  a  necessity  of  na- 
ture through  the  curse  of  sin.  It 
was  not  until  after  the  flood  that 
men  received  authority  from  God  to 
employ  the  flesh  of  animals,  as  well 
as  the  green  herb,  for  food,  (ch.  9  : 3.) 
And  the  fact,  that  according  to  the 
biblical  view,  no  carnivorous  animals 
existed  at  the  first,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  prophetic  announcement  in 
Isa.  11  :  6-8  ;  65  :  25.  The  subjection 
of  the  animal  world  to  the  bondage 
of  corruption  in  consequence  of  the 
curse,  may  have  been  accompanied 
by  a  change  in  the  organization  of 


the  animals,  though  natural  science 
could  neither  demonstrate  the  fact, 
nor  explain  the  process. — Keil  and 
Belitzsch,  pp.  66,  67. 

CHAPTER  II. 

2,  3.  As  the  six  creative  days,  ac- 
cording to  the  words  of  the  text, 
were  earthly  days  of  ordinary  dura- 
tion, we  must  understand  the  sev- 
enth in  the  same  way ;  and  that  all 
the  more,  because  in  every  passage 
in  which  it  is  mentioned  as  the  foun- 
dation of  the  theocratic  Sabbath,  it 
is  regarded  as  an  ordinary  day ;  Exod. 
20  :  11 ;  31  :  17.— Keil  and  Belitzsch, 
p.  70. 

Verse  4  to  ch.  4  :  26,  gives  the  his- 
tory (" generations")  of  the  heavens 
and  the  earth. 

As  in  ch.  5  : 1,  the  creation  of  the 
universe  forms  the  starting  point  to 
the  account  of  the  development  of 
the  human  race,  through  the  genera- 
tions of  Adam,  and  is  recapitulated 
for  that  reason,  so  here  the  crea- 
tion of  the  universe  is  mentioned  as 
the  starting-point  to  the  account  of 
its  historical  development,  because 
this  account  looks  back  to  particular 
points  in  the  creation  itself,  and  de- 
scribes them  more  minutely  as  pre- 
liminaries to  the  subsequent  course 
of  the  world. 

5-25.  "  The  creation  of  the  plants 
is  not  alluded  to  here  at  all,  but  sim- 
ply the  planting  of  the  garden  of 
Eden.  The  growing  of  the  shrubs, 
and  sprouting  of  the  herbs  is  differ- 
ent from  the  creation,  or  first  pro- 
duction of  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
and  relates  to  the  growing  and 
sprouting  of  the  plants  and  germs 
which  were  called  into  existence  by 
the  creation,  the  natural  develop- 
ment of  the  plants  as  it  had  steadily 
proceeded  ever  since  the  creation. 
This  was  dependent  upon  rain  and 
human  culture.  Their  creation  was 
not.  Moreover,  the  shrub  and  herb 
of  the  field  do  not  embrace  the  whole 
of  the  vegetable  productions  of  the 
earth.  The  term  'field '  forms  only 
a  part  of  the  earth,  or  ground.    The 


29G 


APPENDIX 


shrub  of  the  field  consists  of  such 
shrubs  and  tree-like  productions  of 
the  cultivated  land  as  man  raises  for 
the  sake  of  their  fruit — and  the 
herb  of  the  field,  all  seed-producing 
plants,  both  corn  and  vegetables, 
which  serve  as  food  for  man  and 
beast." — Keiland  Delitzsch,pp.  77, 78. 

7.  "  The  vital  principle  in  man  is 
different  from  that  in  the  animal 
and  the  human  soul  from  the  soul  of 
the  beast.  The  difference  is  indicated 
by  the  way  in  which  man  received 
the  breath  of  life  from  God,  and  so 
became  a  living  soul.  God  breathes 
directly  into  the  nostrils  of  tb°  ciie 
man,  in  the  whole  ful^-^ss  of  His 
personality  the  bre^.h  of  life,  that 
in  a  manner  corresponding  to  the 
personality  of  God,  he  may  become 
a  living  soul.  His  immaterial  part 
is  not  merely  soul,  but  a  soul  breath- 
ed entirely  by  God,  since  spirit  and 
soul  were  created  together  by  the 
inspiration  of  God." — Keil  and  De- 
litzsch,  pp.  79,  80. 

15-17.  "  The  tree  of  life  was  to  im- 
part the  power  of  transformation 
into  eternal  life.  The  tree  of  knowl- 
edge was  to  lead  man  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  Divine  plan  this  was  to  be 
attained  through  his  not  eating  of 
its  fruit.  By  obedience  to  the  Di- 
vine will  he  would  have  attained  to 
a  godlike  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil ;  that  is,  to  one  in  accordance 
with  his  own  likeness  to  God.  But 
as  be  failed  to  keep  this  Divinely 
appointed  way,  and  ate  the  forbidden 
fruit  in  opposition  to  the  commands 
of  God,  the  power  imparted  by  God 
to  the  fruit  was  manifested  in  a  dif- 
ferent way.  He  learned  the  differ- 
ence between  good  and  evil  from  his 
own  guilty  experence. — p.  86. 

"  The  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 
which  man  obtains  by  going  into 
evil  is  as  far  removed  from  the  true 
likeness  of  God,  which  he  would 
have  attained  by  avoiding  it,  as  the 
imaginary  liberty  of  a  sinner,  which 
leads  into  bondage  and  sin,  and  ends 
in  death,  is  from  the  true  liberty  of 
a  life  of  fellowship  with  God." 


18-25.  In  ch.  1 :  27,  the  creation 
of  the  woman  is  linked  with  that  of 
the  man :  but  here  the  order  of  se- 
quence is  given,  because  the  creation 
of  the  woman  formed  a  chronolog- 
ical incident  in  the  history  of  the 
human  race,  which  commences  with 
the  creation  of  Adam.  The  circum- 
stance that  in  vs.  19,  the  formation 
of  the  beasts  and  birds  is  connected 
with  the  creation  of  Adam  by  the 
imperf,  with  vav  consec,  constitutes 
no  objection  to  the  plan  of  creation 
given  in  ch.  1.  The  writer  who  was 
about  to  describe  the  relation  of  man 
to  the  beasts,  went  back  to  their  cre- 
ation in  the  simple  method  of  the 
early  Semitic  historians,  and  placed 
this  first  instead  of  making  it  subor- 
dinate :  so  that  our  modern  style  of 
expressing  the  same  thought  would 
be  simply  this :  "  God  brought  to 
Adam  the  beasts  which  he  had  form- 
ed." "That  the  races  of  men  are 
not  species  of  one  genus,  but  varie- 
ties of  one  species,  is  confirmed  by 
the  agreement  in  the  physiological 
and  pathological  phenomena  in  them 
all — by  the -similarity  in  the  anatom- 
ical structure,  in  the  fundamental 
powers  and  traits  of  the  mind,  in  the 
limits  to  the  duration  of  life,  in  the 
normal  temperature  of  the  body,  and 
the  average  rate  of  pulsation,  in  the 
duration  of  pregnancy,  and  in  the 
unrestricted  fruitfulness  of  marriages 
between  the  various  races." — Be- 
litzsch. 

CHAPTER  III. 

14-18.  "The  ktioic,  (?' creature,") 
including  the  whole  animal  creation, 
was  made  subject  to  vanity  and  the 
bondage  of  corruption  (Rom.  8  :  20, 
21,)  in  consequence  of  the  sin  of  man. 
Yet  this  subjection  is  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  effect  of  the  curse 
which  was  pronounced  upon  the  ser- 
pent having  fallen  upon  the  whole 
animal  world,  but  as  the  conse 
quence  of  death  passing  from  man 
into  the  rest  of  the  creation,  and 
thoroughly  pervading  the  whole. 
The  creation  was  drawn  into  the  fall 


APPENDIX. 


29? 


and  forced  to  share  its  consequences, 
because  the  whole  of  the  irrational 
creation  was  made  for  man,  and 
made  subject  to  him  as  its  head — 
consequently  the  ground  was  cursed 
for  man's  sake,  but  not  the  animal 
world  for  the  serpent's  sake,  or  even 
along  with  the  serpent." — (p.  98.) 
"  Just  as  a  loving  father  when  pun- 
ishing the  murderer  of  his  son  might 
snap  in  two  the  sword  or  dagger 
with  which  the  murder  had  been 
committed." — Ghrysostom. 

"Although  this  punishment  fell 
literally  upon  the  serpent,  it  also  af- 
fected the  tempter  in  a  figurative  or 
symbolical  sense.  He  became  the 
object  of  the  utmost  contempt  and 
abhorrence,  and  the  serpent  still 
keeps  the  revolting  image  of  Satan 
perpetually  before  the  eye.  This 
degradation  was  to  be  perpetual, 
while  all  the  rest  of  the  creation 
should  be  delivered  from  the  fate 
into  which  the  fall  has  plunged  it ; 
(according  to  Isa.  65  :  25,)  the  instru- 
ment of  man's  temptation  is  to  re- 
main sentenced  to  perpetual  degra- 
dation in  fulfilment  of  the  sentence, 
'  All  the  days  of  thy  life,' — and  thus 
to  prefigure  the  fate  of  the  real 
tempter,  for  whom  there  is  no  deliv- 
erance."— Hengstenberg  Chris.,  1  :  15. 

There  is  an  unmistakable  allu- 
sion to  the  evil  and  hostile  being 
concealed  behind  the  serpent.  "  Thou 
(not  thy  seed,)  shalt  crush  his 
heel." — (p.  101.)  And  so,  we  may 
add,  there  is  the  plain  allusion  in 
the  former  clause  to  the  Personal 
Seed,  which  is  Christ ;  "  He  shall 
bruise  thy  head." 

20-24.  Eve.  Adam  manifested  his 
faith  in  the  name  which  he  gave  to 
his  wife — "  because  she  became  the 
mother  of  all  living," — i.  e.,  because 
the  continuance  and  life  of  his  race 
were  guaranteed  to  the  man  through 
the  woman.  ^[  Take  also  of  the  tree 
of  life.  From  the  " also"  it  follows 
that  the  man  had  not  yet  eaten  of 
the  tree  of  life.  And  after  he  had 
fallen  through  sin  into  the  power  of 
death,  the  fruit  which  produced  im- 
mortality could  only  do  him  harm. 


For  immortality  in  a  state  of  sin  is 
not  the  £uv  aiuiun  which  God  de- 
signed for  man,  but  endless  misery 
which  the  Scriptures  call  the  second 
death  ;  (Rev.  2  :  11 ;  20  :  6, 14  ;  21  : 8.) 
The  expulsion  from  Paradise,  there- 
fore, was  a  punishment  inflicted  for 
man's  good,  intended  while  exposing 
him  to  temporal  death,  to  preserve 
him  from  eternal  death." — (K.andD) 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1-8.  Abel  offered  the  fatted  first- 
ling of  his  flock,  the  best  that  he 
could  bring — but  Cain  only  brought 
a  portion  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground, 
and  not  the  first  fruits.  The  state  of 
mind  towards  God  with  which  they 
were  brought,  manifested  itself  in 
the  selection  of  the  gifts.  In  the 
case  of  Abel  it  w&sfaitli ;  Heb.  11  : 4. 

9-15.  Driven  away  from  the  face 
of  the  earth — {adamah.)  This  is  the 
district  of  Eden,  outside  of  Paradise, 
(vs.  16,)  where  Cain  had  carried  on 
his  agricultural  pursuits,  and  where 
God  had  revealed  His  presence  to 
men  after  the  expulsion  from  the 
garden  ;  so  that  henceforth  Cain  had 
to  wander  about  upon  the  wide 
world,  homeless,  and  far  from  the 
presence  of  God. 

23,  24.  "  Adah  and  Zillah,  hear  my 
voice.  Ye  wives  of  Lamech,  hearken 
to  my  speech.  Men  I  slay  for  my 
wound,  and  young  men  for  my 
stripes.  For  sevenfold  is  Cain  aveng- 
ed, and  Lamech  seventy  and  seven 
fold."  "  Whoever  inflicts  a  wound 
or  stripe  on  me,  whether  man  or 
youth,  I  will  put  to  death — and  for 
every  injury  done  to  my  person,  I 
will  take  ten  times  more  vengeance 
than  that  with  which  God  promised 
to  avenge  the  murder  of  my  ances- 
tor Cain."— (K.  and  D.) 

CHAPTER  V 

1.  The  addition  of  the  clause,  "In 
the  day  that  God  created,"  etc.,  is 
analogous  to  ch,  2:4;  the  creation 
being  mentioned  again  as  the  start- 


298 


APPENDIX. 


ing-point,  because  all  the  develop- 
ment and  history  of  humanity  were 
rooted  there."  ■[[  Sons  of  God.  This 
cannot  be  applied  to  the  angels,  for 
no  allusion  has  been  made  to  them 
in  the  context,  but  only  to  the  pious, 
"  who  walked  with  God,  and  called 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord."  Be- 
sides Christ  Himself  distinctly  states 
that  the  angels  cannot  marry,  (Matt. 
22  :  30  ;  Mark  12  :  25  ;  comp.  Luke 
20  :  34,)  and  the  reference  is  here  to 
marriage.  Also  the  sentence  pro- 
nounced in  vs.  3,  upon  the  "  sons  of 
God,"  is  appropriate  to  men  only. 
"  Jehovah  said,  My  Spirit  shall  not 
rule  in  men  forever :  in  their  wan- 
dering they  are  flesh,  therefore  his 
days  shall  be  a  hundred  and  twenty 
years," — not  that  human  life  should 
in  future  never  attain  a  greater  age 
than  one  hundred  and  twenty  years, 
but  that  a  respite  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  should  still  be  granted 
to  the  human  race. — (p.  136.) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

4.  "  Tlie  Nepliilim  were  on  the  earth 
in  those  days:  and  also,  after  that, 
when  the  sons  of  God  came  in  unto 
the  daughters  of  men,  and  they  bare 
children  unto  them,  these  are  the  he- 
roes wlw,  from  the  olden  time,  are  the 
men  of  nam.e."  "  It  might  be  under- 
stood that  the  heroes  refer  back  to 
the  Nepliilim  ;  but  it  is  a  more  nat- 
ural supposition,  that  it  refers  to  the 
children  born  to  the  sons  of  God. 
'  These,'  that  is,  the  sons  sprung  from 
those  marriages, '  are  the  heroes,  those 
renowned  heroes  of  old.'  Now,  if  ac- 
cording to  the  simple  meaning  of  the 
passage,  the  Nepliilim  were  in  exist- 
ence at  the  very  time  when  the  sons 
of  God  came  in  to  the  daughters  of 
men,  the  appearance  of  the  Nephi- 
lim  can  not  afford  the  slightest  evi- 
dence that  the  sons  of  God  were  an- 
gels, by  whom  a  family  of  monsters 
were  begotten,  whether  demigods, 
demons,  or  angel-men." 

5-8.  Repented — it  grieved  Him  at 
His  heart.     "  God  is  hurt  no  less  by 


the  atrocious  sins  of  men  than  if 
they  pierced  His  heart  with  mortal 
anguish." — Calvin . 

16.  "  Every  objection  that  has  been 
raised  against  the  suitableness  of  the 
ark  in  the  possibility  of  collecting 
all  the  animals  in  the  ark,  and  pro- 
viding them  with  food,  is  based  upon 
arbitrary  assumptions,  and  should 
be  treated  as  a  perfectly  groundless 
fancy.  As  natural  science  is  still  in 
the  dark  as  to  the  formation  of  spe- 
cies, and  therefore  not  in  a  condition 
to  determine  the  number  of  pairs 
from  which  all  existing  species  are 
descended,  it  is  ridiculous  to  talk  as 
Pfaff  and  others  do,  of  two  thousand 
species  of  mammalia,  and  six  thous- 
and five  hundred  species  of  birds, 
which  Noah  would  have  had  to  feed 
every  day." — (p.  143,  note.) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

"  That  the  variations  in  the  names 
of  God  furnish  no  criteria  by  which  to 
detect  different  documents,  is  evident 
enough  from  the  fact,  that  in  ch. 
7  : 1,  it  is  Jehovah  who  commanded 
Noah  to  enter  the  ark,  and  in  vs.  4, 
Noah  does  as  Elohim  had  command- 
ed him — while  in  vs.  26,  in  two  suc- 
cessive clauses  Elohim  alternates 
with  Jehovah — the  animals  entering 
the  ark  at  the  command  of  Elohim, 
and  Jehovah  shutting  them  in." 

"  The  fact  recorded  that  '  the  wa- 
ter covered  all  the  high  hills  under 
the  whole  heaven,'  clearly  indicates 
the  universality  of  the  flood.  A 
flood  that  rose  fifteen  cubits  above 
the  top  of  Ararat  could  not  remain 
partial,  if  it  only  continued  for  a 
few  days,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact 
that  the  water  was  rising  for  forty 
days,  and  remained  at  the  highest 
elevation  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
days.  To  speak  of  such  a  flood  as 
partial  is  absurd.  Even  if  it  broke 
out  at  only  one  spot,  it  would  spread 
over  the  earth  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  and  reach  everywhere  to  the 
same  elevation.  However  impossi- 
ble,  therefore,  scientific    men    may 


APPENDIX. 


declare  it  to  be  for  tliem  to  conceive 
of  a  universal  deluge,  of  such,  a 
height  and  duration  in  accordance 
with  the  known  laws  of  nature,  this 
inability  on  their  part,  does  not  jus- 
tify any  one  in  questioning  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  an  event  being  pro- 
duced by  the  Omnipotence  of  God. 
It  has  been  justly  remarked,  too, 
that  the  proportion  of  such  a  quan- 
tity of  water  to  the  entire  mass  of 
the  earth,  in  relation  to  which  the 
mountains  are  but  like  the  scratches 
of  a  needle  on  a  globe,  is  no  greater 
than  that  of  a  profuse  perspiration 
to  the  body  of  a  man.  And  to  this 
must  be  added  that  apart  from  the 
legend  of  a  flood,  which  is  found  in 
nearly  every  nation,  the  earth  pre- 
sents unquestionable  traces  of  sub- 
mersion in  the  fossil  remains  of  ani- 
mals and  plants,  which  are  found 
upon  the  Cordillera  and  Himalaya, 
even  beyond  the  limits  of  perpetual 
snow." — (pp.  146-7.)  ^Ararat.  This 
resting-place  of  the  ark  is  exceed- 
ingly interesting  in  connexion  with 
the  developments  of  the  human  race 
as  renewed  after  the  flood.  Armenia, 
the  source  of  the  rivers  of  Paradise, 
has  been  called  a  cool,  airy,  well  wa- 
tered mountain-island  in  the  midst 
of  the  old  continent.  But  Mt.  Ara- 
rat, especially,  is  situated  almost  in 
the  middle,  not  only  of  the  Great 
Desert  route  of  Africa  and  Asia,  but 
also  of  the  range  of  inland  waters 
from  Gibraltar  to  the  Baikal  Sea,  in 
the  centre,  too,  of  the  longest  line 
that  can  be  drawn  through  the  set- 
tlements of  the  Caucasian  race  and 
the  Indo-Germanic  tribes ;  and  as 
the  central  point  of  the  longest  line 
of  the  ancient  world  from  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  to  the  Behring  Straits, 
it  was  the  most  suitable  spot  in  the 
world  for  the  tribes  and  nations  that 
sprang  from  the  sons  of  Noah  to 
descend  from  its  heights  and  spread 
into  every  land." — See  Baumer's  Pal- 
estine. 

li  The  selection  which  Noah  made 
of  the  birds  may  also  be  explained 
quite  simply  from  the  difference  in 
their  nature  with  which  Noah  must 


have  been  acquainted — that  is  to 
say,  from  the  fact  that  the  raven,  in 
seeking  its  food,  settles  upon  every 
carcase  that  it  sees,  whereas  the  dove 
will  only  settle  upon  what  is  dry  and 
clean."— (p.  149.) 


CHAPTER  IX. 

18-29.  "  Noah,  through  the  spirit 
and  power  of  that  God  with  whom 
he  walked,  discerned  in  the  moral 
nature  of  his  sons,  and  the  different 
tendencies  which  they  already  dis- 
played, the  germinal  commencement 
of  the  future  course  of  their  poster- 
ity, and  uttered  words  of  blessing 
and  of  curse,  which  were  prophetic 
of  the  history  of  the  tribes  which 
descended  from  them." 

"  In  the  sin  of  Ham  there  lies  the 
great  stain  of  the  whole  Hamitic 
race — whose  chief  characteristic  is 
sexual  sin." — Ziegler.  "And  the 
curse  which  Noah  pronounced  upon 
this  sin  still  rests  upon  the  race.  It 
was  not  Ham  who  was  cursed,  how- 
ever, but  his  son  Canaan.  Ham  had 
sinned  against  his  father — he  was 
punished  in  his  son.  But  the  reason 
why  Canaan  was  the  only  son  named, 
must  lie  either  in  the  fact  that  he 
was  walking  already  in  the  steps  of 
his  father's  impiety  and  sin,  or  else 
it  must  be  sought  in  the  name 
'  Canaan,'  in  which  Noah  discerned 
through  the  gift  of  prophecy  a  signi- 
ficant omen — a  supposition  decidedly 
favored  by  the  analogy  of  the  bles- 
sing pronounced  upon  Japhet,  which 
is  also  founded  on  the  name.  '  Ca- 
naan,' means  the  submissive  one. 
Ham  gave  this  name  to  his  son  from 
the  obedience  which  he  required, 
though  he  did  not  render  it  himself. 
The  son  was  to  be  the  slave  (in  ser- 
vile obedience)  of  the  father,  who 
was  as  tyrannical  towards  those  be 
neath  him  as  he  was  refractory  to- 
wards those  above.  But '  the  secrei 
Providence  of  God,  which  rules  in 
all  such  things,  had  a  different  sub- 
mission in  view."  —  Hengsteriberg 
Ghria. 


800 


APPENDIX. 


" '  Servant  of  servants  (the  lowest 
of  slaves,)  let  him  become  to  Ms  breth- 
ren.' Although  this  curse  was  pro- 
nounced upon  Canaan  alone,  the  fact 
that  Hani  had  no  share  in  Noah's 
blessing,  either  for  himself  or  his 
other  sons,  was  a  sufficient  proof  that 
his  whole  family  was  included  by 
implication  in  the  curse,  even  if  it 
was  to  fall  chiefly  upon  Canaan  ;  and 
history  confirms  the  supposition." — 
(pp.  157-8.) 

"  If  the  dwelling  of  Japhet  in  the 
tents  of  Shem  presupposes  the  con- 
quest of  the  land  of  Shem  by  Ja- 
phet, it  is  a  blessing,  not  only  to  Ja- 
phet, but  to  Shem  also,  since  whilst 
Japhet  enters  into  the  spiritual  in- 
heritance of  Shem,  he  brings  to  Shem 
all  the  good  of  this  world,  (Isa.  60.) 
The  fulfilment  (says  Delitzsch,)  is 
plain  enough,  for  we  are  all  Japhet- 
ites  dwelling  in  the  tents  of  Shem, 
and  the  language  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  the  language  of  Javan  en- 
tered into  the  tents  of  Shem.  To 
this  we  may  add,  that  by  the  gospel 
preached  in  this  language,  'Israel, 
though  subdued  by  the  imperial 
power  of  Rome,  became  the  spirit- 
ual conqueror  of  the  orbis  terrarum 
Romanus,  and  received  it  into  his 
tents."— (p.  160.) 


CHAPTER  XL 

1,2.  "The* unity  of  language  of 
the  whole  human  race  follows  from 
the  unity  of  its  descent  from  one  hu- 
man pair,  (ch.  2  :  22.)  But  as  the 
origin  and  formation  of  the  races  of 
mankind  are  beyond  the  limits  of 
empirical  research,  so  no  philol- 
ogy will  be  able  to  prove  or  deduce 
the  original  unity  of  human  speech 
from  the  languages  which  have  been 
historically  preserved,  however  far 
comparative  grammar  may  proceed 
in  establishing  the  genealogical  rela- 
tion of  the  languages  of  different 
nations." 

6.  "  Behold  one  people  ;  and  one  lan- 
guage have  they  all,  and  this  (the 
building  of  this  city  and  tower)  is 


(only)  the  beginning  of  their  deeds; 
and  now  (when  they  have  finished 
this)  nothing  will  be  impossible  to 
them  (lit.,  cut  off'  from,  prevented) 
which  they  purpose  to  do."  By  the 
firm  establishment  of  an  ungodly 
unity,  the  wickedness  and  audacity 
of  men,  would  have  led  to  fearful 
enterprizes.  "  The  oneness  of  their 
God  and  their  worship,  as  well  as 
the  unity  of  brotherly  love,  was  al- 
ready broken  by  sin.  Consequently 
the  undertaking  dictated  by  pride 
to  preserve  and  consolidate  by  out- 
ward means,  the  unity  which  was 
inwardly  lost,  could  not  be  success- 
ful, but  could  only  bring  down  the 
judgment  of  dispersion.  The  con- 
fusion of  tongues  was  through  a  di- 
rect manifestation  of  Divine  power, 
which  caused  the  disturbance  pro- 
duced by  sin  in  the  unity  of  emotion, 
thought,  and  will,  to  issue  in  a  di- 
versity of  language,  and  thus  by  a 
miraculous  suspension  of  mutual  un- 
derstanding frustrated  the  enterprise 
through  which  men  hoped  to  render 
dispersion  and  estrangement  impos- 
sible. 

We  must  not  conclude  that  the 
differences  in  language  were  simply 
the  result  of  the  separation  of  the 
various  tribes,  and  that  the  latter 
arose  from  discord  and  strife — in 
which  case  the  confusion  of  tongues 
would  be  nothing  more  than  a  dis- 
sension and  distraction  of  counsels. 
Such  a  view  does  violence  to  the 
words  "  that  one  may  not  discern 
the  lip  (language)  of  the  other," 
and  is  also  at  variance  with  the  ob- 
ject of  the  narrative.  When  it  is 
stated  first  of  all  that  God  resolved 
to  destroy  the  unity  of  lips  and 
words  by  a  confusion  of  the  lips, 
and  then  that  He  scattered  the  men 
abroad,  this  act  of  Divine  judgment 
cannot  be  understood  in  any  other 
way  than  that  God  deprived  them 
of  the  ability  to  comprehend  one 
another,  and  thus  effected  their  dis- 
persion. (Besides,  it  is  distinctly  re- 
corded that  they  were  settled  in  their 
respective  localities,  "  Every  one  after 
his  tongue,"  which  supposes  such  a 


APPENDIX. 


301 


confusion  of  tongues  as  determining 
the  dispersion.  Ch.  10  :  5. )  The 
event  itself  cannot  have  consisted 
merely  in  a  change  of  the  organs  of 
speech  produced  by  the  Omnipotence 
of  God,  whereby  speakers  were 
turned  into  stammerers,  who  were 
unintelligible  to  one  another.  The 
differences  to  which  this  event  gave 
rise,  consisted  not  merely  in  varia- 
tions of  sound,  such  as  might  be 
attributed  to  differences  in  the  for- 
mation of  organs  of  speech,  (the  lip, 
or  tongue,)  but  had  a  much  deeper 
foundation  in  the  human  mind.  If 
language  is  the  audible  expression  of 
emotions,  conceptions,  and  thoughts 
of  the  mind,  the  cause  of  the  con- 
fusion or  division  of  the  one  human 
language  into  different  national  dia- 
lects, must  be  sought  in  an  effect 
produced  upon  the  human  mind,  by 
which  the  original  unity  of  emotion, 
conception,  thought  and  will  was 
broken  up."  The  primitive  language 
is  extinct — buried  in  the  materials 
of  the  languages  of  the  nations,  to 
rise  again  one  day  to  eternal  life  in 
the  glorified  form  of  the  /catvac  yXucr- 
oai,  intelligible  to  all  the  redeemed, 
when  sin  with  its  consequences  is 
overcome  and  extinguished  by  the 
power  of  grace.  A  type  and  pledge 
of  this  hope  was  given  in  the  gift  of 
tongues  on  the  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  upon  the  Church  on  the 
first  Christian  day  of  Pentecost, 
when  the  Apostles,  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  spake  with  other  or 
new  tongues,  of  the  wonderful  works 
of  God,  so  that  the  people  of  every 
nation  under  heaven  understood  in 
their  own  language."  Acts  2  :  1-11. 
— (K.  and  D.) 

"  The  two  catastrophes,  the  flood 
and  the  dispersion,  exerted  a  power- 
ful influence  in  shortening  the  dura- 
tion of  human  life ;  the  former  by 
altering  the  climate  of  the  earth — 
the  latter  by  changing  the  habits  of 
men.  But  while  the  length  of  life 
was  lessened,  the  children  were  born 
proportionably  earlier.  There  is 
nothing  astonishing,  therefore,  in 
the    circumstance    that     wherever 


Abram  went  lie  found  tribes,  towns, 
and  kingdoms,  though  only  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  years  had 
elapsed  since  the  flood,  when  we 
consider  that  eleven  generations 
would  have  followed  one  another  in 
that  time,  and  that  supposing  every 
marriage  to  have  been  blessed  with 
eight  children  on  an  average,  (four 
male  and  four  female,)  the  eleventh 
generation  would  contain  12,582,912 
couples,  or  25,165,824  individuals ; 
and  if  we  reckon  ten  children  as  the 
average  number,  the  eleventh  gene- 
ration would  contain  146,484,375 
pairs,  or  292,968,750  individuals.  In 
neither  of  these  cases  have  we  in- 
cluded such  of  the  earlier  genera- 
tions as  would  be  still  living,  al- 
though their  number  would  be  by 
no  means  inconsiderable,  since  nearly 
all  the  patriarchs  from  Shem  to 
Terah  were  alive  at  the  time  of 
Abram's  migration." — (p.  178.) 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  dispersion  of  the  descendants 
of  the  sons  of  Noah,  who  had  now 
grown  into  numerous  families,  was 
necessarily  followed  on  the  one  hand 
by  the  rise  of  a  variety  of  nations 
differing  in  language,  manners  and 
customs,  and  more  and  more  estrang- 
ed from  one  another,  and  on  the 
other  by  the  expansion  of  the  germs 
of  idolatry  contained  in  the  different 
attitudes  of  these  nations  towards 
God,  into  the  polytheistic  religions 
of  heathenism.  If  God  therefore 
would  fulfil  His  promise  no  more  to 
smite  the  earth  with  the  curse  of  the 
destruction  of  every  living  thing 
because  of  the  sin  of  man,  (Ch.  8  :  21, 
22,)  and  yet  would  prevent  the  moral 
corruption  which  worketh  death 
from  sweeping  all  before  it,  it  was 
necessary  that  by  the  side  of  these 
self-formed  nations,  He  should  form 
a  nation  for  Himself  to  be  the  reci- 
pient and  preserver  of  His  salvation, 
and  that  in  opposition  to  the  rising 
kingdoms  of  the  world  He  should 
establish  a  Kingdom  for  the  living 


APPENDIX. 


savi  ng  fellowship  of  man  with  Him- 
self. The  foundation  for  this  was 
laid  by  God  in  the  call  and  separa- 
tion of  Abram  from  his  people  and 
his  country,  to  make  him,  by  special 
guidance,  the  father  of  a  nation  from 
which  the  salvation  of  the  world 
should  come.  With  the  choice  of 
Abram,  the  revelations  of  God  to 
man  assumed  a  select  character,  in- 
asmuch as  God  manifested  Him- 
self henceforth  to  Abram  and  his 
posterity  alone,  as  the  author  of 
salvation,  and  the  guide  to  true  life  ,• 
whilst  ocher  nations  were  left  to 
walk  in  their  own  ways,  Acts  17  :  27, 
that  they  might  learn  how  in  their 
chosen  ways  and  without  fellowship 
with  the  living  God,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  find  peace  to  the  soul,  and 
true  blessedness."  As  a  perfectly 
new  beginning,  therefore,  the  patri- 
archal history  assumed  the  form  of  a 
family  history,  in  which  the  grace 
of  God  prepared  the  ground  for  the 
coming  Israel.  The  early  history 
consists  of  three  stages,  which  are 
indicated  by  the  three  patriarchs, 
Abram,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  and  in  the 
sons  of  Jacob  the  unity  of  the  chosen 
family  was  expanded  into  the  twelve 
immediate  fathers  of  the  nation." — 
"Abram  was  a  man  of  faith  that 
works.  Isaac,  of  faith  that  endures. 
Jacob,  of  faith  that  wrestles." — 
Baumgarten.  Thus  walking  in  faith 
the  patriarchs  were  types  of  faith  for 
all  the  families  that  should  spring 
from  them,  and  be  blessed  through 
them,  and  ancestors  of  a  nation 
which  God  had  resolved  to  form  ac- 
cording to  the  election  of  His  grace. 
For  the  election  of  God  was  not 
restricted  to  the  separation  of  Abram 
from  the  family  of  Shem  to  be  the 
father  of  the  nation  which  was  des- 
tined to  be  the  vehicle  of  salvation. 
It  was  also  manifest  in  the  exclusion 
of  Ishmael  whom  Abram  had  begot- 
ten by  the  will  of  man,  through 
Hagar  the  hand-maid  of  his  wife,  for 
Jie  purpose  of  securing  the  promised 
seed.  And  it  was  manifest  also  in 
the  new  life  imparted  to  the  womb 


of  the  barren  Sarai,  and  her  con- 
sequent conception  and  birth  of 
Isaac,  the  son  of  promise.  And 
lastly  it  appeared  still  more  mani- 
festly in  the  twin-sons  born  by  Re- 
bekah  to  Isaac,  of  whom  the  first- 
born, Esau,  was  rejected,  and  the 
younger,  Jacob,  was  chosen  to  be 
heir  of  the  promise.  And  this  choice 
which  was  announced  before  their 
birth,  was  maintained  in  spite  of 
Isaac's  plans,  so  that  Jacob  and  not 
Esau,  received  the  blessing  of  the 
promise.  All  this  occurred  as  a  type 
for  the  future,  that  Israel  might 
know  and  lay  to  heart  the  fact  that 
bodily  descent  from  Abram  did  not 
make  a  man  a  child  of  God,  but  that 
they  alone  were  children  of  God, 
who  laid  hold  of  the  Divine  promise 
in  faith,  and  walked  in  the  steps 
of  their  forefather's  faith.  (Rom. 
9  :  6-1  o.)  As  soon,  therefore,  as 
Abram  is  called,  we  read  of  the 
appearing  of  God,  (Ch.  12  :  7)  of  the 
Angel  of  God,  (Ch.  21  :  17)  and  the 
Angel  of  Jehovah,  (Ch.  16 : 7,)  who 
is  manifestly  none  other  than  Jeho- 
vah Himself." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

14.  "  The  possession  of  the  land 
is  promised  'for  ever'  The  promise 
of  God  is  unchangeable — as  the  seed 
of  Abram  was  to  exist  before  God  for- 
ever. So  Canaan  was  to  be  their  ever- 
lasting possession.  But  this  ajjplied 
not  to  the  lineal  posterity  of  Abram, 
to  his  seed  according  to  the  flesh, 
but  to  the  true  spiritual  seed,  which 
embraced  the  promise  in  faith,  and 
held  it  in  a  pure  believing  heart. 
The  promise,  therefore,  neither  pre- 
cluded the  expulsion  of  the  unbe- 
lieving seed  from  the  land  of  Canaan, 
nor  guarantees  to  existing  Jews  a 
return  to  the  earthly  Palestine  after 
their  conversion  to  Christ.  For  as 
Calvin  well  says,  '  When  the  land  is 
promised  forever,  it  is  not  simply 
the  perpetuity  that  is  denoted,  but 
that  which  attains  an  end  in  Christ.' 


APPENDIX. 


Through  Christ  the  promise  has 
been  exalted  from  its  temporal  form 
to  its  true  essence ;  through  Him 
the  whole  earth  becomes  Canaan." 
(ch.  17 :  18.— (p.  200-1.)— Keil. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

7.  Here  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  is 
mentioned  for  the  first  time.  The 
Angel  of  Jehovah  was  only  a  pecu- 
liar form  in  which  Jehovah  Himself 
appeared,  and  which  differed  from 
the  manifestations  of  God  described 
as  appearings  of  Jehovah  simply  in 
this,  that  in  "  the  Angel  of  Jehovah" 
God  or  Jehovah  revealed  Himself  in 
a  mode  which  was  more  easily  dis- 
cernible by  human  senses,  and  ex- 
hibited in  a  guise  of  symbolical 
significance,  the  design  of  each  par- 
ticular manifestation.  But  although 
there  was  no  essential  difference,  but 
only  a  formal  one,  between  the  ap- 
pearing of  Jehovah  and  the  appear- 
ing of  the  Angel  of  Jehovah,  the 
distinction  in  the  names  points  to  a 
distinction  in  the  Divine  Nature,  to 
which  even  the  Old  Testament  con- 
tains several  obvious  allusions.  The 
very  name  indicates  such  a  differ- 
ence. Maleach  (lit.  he  through  whom 
a  work  is  executed,  but  in  ordi- 
nary usage  restricted  to  the  idea  of 
a  messenger)  denotes  the  Person 
through  whom  God  works  and  ap- 
pears. Besides,  the  passages  which 
represent  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  as 
one  with  Jehovah,  there  are  others 
in  which  the  Angel  distinguishes 
Himself  from  Jehovah,  e.g.,  when 
He  gives  emphasis  to  the  oath  by 
Himself  as  an  oath  by  Jehovah,  bv 
adding  '  saith  Jehovah '  (ch.  22  :  16). 
See  Judg.  6  :  12  ;  13 :  16.  Zech.  1 :  12. 
Also  comp.  Gen.  19  :  24.  Just  as  in 
these  passages  the  Angel  distin- 
guishes Himself  personally  from 
Jehovah,  there  are  others  in  which 
a  distinction  is  drawn  between  a 
self-revealing  side  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture, visible  to  men,  and  a  hidden 
side,  invisible  to  men,  %.  c,  between 


the  self-revealing  and  the  hidden 
God.  Thus  not  only  does  Jehovah 
say  of  the  Angel  whom  He  sends 
before  Israel  in  the  pillar  and  cloud 
and  fire,  '  My  name  is  in  Him,'  i.  e., 
He  reveals  my  nature,  (Ex.  23  :  21,) 
but  He  also  calls  Him  "'it  ,  Panal — 
"  My  face."  And  then  in  reply  to 
Moses'  request  to  see  His  glory,  He 
says,  "  Thou  canst  not  see  my  face, 
for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and 
live."  (Ch.  33  :  18-23.)  So  He,  in 
whom  Jehovah  manifested  Himself 
to  His  people  as  Saviour,  is  called 
the  Angel  of  His  face,  (Isa.  63  :  9,) 
and  all  the  guidance  and  protection 
of  Israel  are  ascribed  to  Him.  Ac- 
cordingly Malachi,  the  last  Old  Tes- 
tament prophet,  proclaims  to  the 
people  who  waited  for  the  manifesta- 
tion of  Jehovah,  (in  the  appearing  of 
the  predicted  Messiah,)  that  the 
Lord  "  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant," 
will  come  to  His  temple,  Mai.  3:1. 
This  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  or 
Angel  of  the  Face,  has  appeared  in 
Christ.  The  Angel  of  Jehovah  was 
therefore  none  other  than  the  Logos, 
who  was  not  only  with  God,  but 
was  God,  and  who  in  Jesus  Christ 
was  made  flesh,  and  came  unto  His 
own,  John  1:2,  11 ;  who  was  sent  by 
the  Father  into  the  world,  and 
though  He  was  the  only  begotten 
Son  of  God,  and  one  with  the  Father, 
yet  prayed  to  the  Father,  (John  17,) 
and  is  even  called  the  Apostle  of  our 
confession — whom  we  confess  or 
profess  as  such. — Accordingly  that 
which  in  the  New  Testament  is  un- 
folded in  perfect  clearness  through 
the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
was  still  veiled  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, according  to  the  wise  plan  of 
the  Divine  training.  And  in  the 
New  Testament  nearly  all  the  mani- 
festations of  Jehovah  under  the  Old 
Covenant  are  referred  to  Christ,  and 
regarded  as  fulfilled  through  Him. 
For  not  only  is  the  Angel  of  Jehovah 
the  Revealer  of  God,  but  Jehovah 
Himself  is  the  Revealed  God  and 
Saviour."— K.  and  D.,  pp.  189-191. 


304 


APPENDIX. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

"  The  whole  of  the  twelve  sons  of 
Jacob  founded  only  the  one  nation 
of  Israel  with  which  Jehovah  estab- 
lished the  covenant  made  with 
Abraham  (Ex.  6,  and  22-24.)  So 
that  Abraham  became  through  Is- 
rael the  lineal  founder  of  one  nation 
only.  From  this  it  necessarily  fol- 
lows, that  the  posterity  of  Abraham, 
which  was  to  expand  into  a  multi- 
tude of  nations,  extends  beyond  this 
one  lineal  posterity,  and  embraces 
the  spiritual  posterity  also,  i.  e.,  all 
nations  who  are  grafted  into  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  (f/c  ttioteus)  from, 
(through)  the  faith  of  Abraham, 
Rom.  4  :  11,  12,  and  16,  17.  More- 
over, the  fact  that  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham was  not  to  be  restricted  to  his 
lineal  descendants,  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  circumcision  as  the 
covenant  sign  was  not  confined  to 
them,  but  extended  to  all  the  in- 
mates of  his  house,  so  that  these 
strangers  were  received  into  the 
fellowship  of  the  Covenant,  and 
reckoned  as  part  of  the  promised 
seed.  Now,  if  the  whole  land  of 
Canaan  was  promised  to  this  poster- 
ity which  was  to  increase  into  a  mul- 
titude of  nations,  (vs.  8,)  it  is  per- 


fectly evident  from  what  has  just 
been  said,  that  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  the  promise  was  not  ex- 
hausted by  the  gift  of  the  land, 
whose  boundaries  are  described  in 
ch.  15  :  18-21,  as  a  possession  to  the 
nation  of  Israel,  but  that  the  exten- 
sion of  the  idea  of  the  lineal  poster- 
ity, "  Israel  after  the  flesh "  to  the 
spiritual  posterity,  "  Israel  after  the 
Spirit,"  requires  the  expansion  of 
the  idea  and  extent  of  the  earthly 
Canaan  to  the  full  extent  of  the 
spiritual  Canaan,  whose  boundaries 
reach  as  widely  as  the  multitude  of 
nations  having  Abraham  as  father, 
and  therefore,  that  in  reality  Abra- 
ham received  the  promise  that  he 
should  be  heir  of  the  icorld,  Rom. 
4  :  13.  This  idea  is  still  further  ex- 
panded by  the  prophets,  and  most 
distinctly  expressed  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament by  Christ  and  His  Apostles. 
The  scriptural  and  spiritual  inter- 
pretation of  the  Old  Testament  is 
entirely  overlooked  by  those  who, 
like  Auberlen,  restrict  all  the  pro- 
mises of  God  and  the  prophetic  pro- 
clamations of  salvation  to  the  phys- 
ical Israel,  and  reduce  to  a  mere 
accommodation,  the  application  of 
them  to  the  Israel  after  the  Spirit, 
i.  e.,  to  believing  Christendom." — 
K.  and  D.,  p.  226  and  note. 


THE  END. 


Date  Due 


'■isEigMBwattt  * 


